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• 


PERKINS  LIBRARY 

L/uke   University 


Kare  Dooka 


Rec'H  I   "^3   f 


Form  934— 20M— 7-35 


"**^^^. 


* 


1 


%4.<i 


LECTURES 


RHETORIC  AND  ORATORY, 


DELIVERED 

TO   THE  CLASSES   OF   SENIOR  AND  JUNIOR  SOPHISTERS 
IN   HARVARD    UNIVERSITY. 


By  JOHN  QUINCY  ADAMS,  ll.d. 

LATE    BOYLSTON    PROFESSOR    OF    RHETORIC  AND    ORATORY. 


IN  TWO  VOLUMES. 

VOL.  I. 

—  iTTt  v  rir — 

CAMBRIDGE  : 

PRINTED    BY    IIILLIARD    AND    METCALF. 


1810. 


DISTRICT  OF  MASSACHUSETTS,  to  wit  ; 

•♦•■*•  4- ♦  BE  IT  REMEMBERED,  that  Oil  the  fii-st  day  of  January, 
■+SEA1.  4*  i,^  jjie  thirty  fourth  year  of  tlie  intlependencc  of  the  United 
**■**■  States  of  America,  Hilliard  &.  VTe tcalf  of  the  said 
disti'ict  have  deposited  in  tliis  office  the  title  of  a  book,  the  right 
thereof  they  claim,  as  proprietors,  in  the  words  following' ;  to  wit, 
"  lectures  on  rhetoric  and  oratory,  delivered  to  tlie  classes  of 
"  senior  and  junior  sophisters  in  Harvard  university,  by  Johit 
"Q_uiNCY  Adams,  ll.d.  late  Boylston  professor  of  rhetoric  and 
"  oratory.     In  two  volumes." 

In  conformity  to  the  act  of  the  congress  of  the  United  States, 
entitled  "  an  act  for  the  encouragement  of  learning  by  securing 
"  the  copies  of  maps,  charts,  and  books  to  the  authors  and  pro- 
"  prietors  of  such  copies  during  the  times,  therein  mentioned  ;" 
and  also  to  an  act,  entitled  "  an  act  for  the  encouragement  of 
"  learning  by  securing  the  copies  of  maps,  charts,  and  books  to 
"  the  authors  and  jDroprietors  of  such  copies  dui-ing  the  times, 
"  therein  mentioned  ;  and  extending  the  benefits  tliereof  to  the 
•*  arts  of  designing,  engraving,  and  etching  historical  and  other 
"  prints." 

W.  S.  SHAW,  clerk  of  the  district  of  Massachusetts.- 


RAR 


ADVERTISEMENT. 


THE  literary  institutions  of  our  country  are 
under  many  obligations  to  the  mercantile  profes- 
sion.  The  enlarged  and  liberal  views  of  opulent 
individuals,  in  this  class  of  the  community,  have 
frequently  prompted  them  to  laudable  and  mu- 
nificent appropriations  for  the  promotion  of  sci- 
ence and  the  means  of  education.  Among  men 
of  this  description  the  benevolent  founder  of  the 
professorship,  under  which  the  following  lectures 
were  delivered,  is  highly  distinguished. 

Nicholas  Boylston  esq.  was  an  cmment 
merchant  of  Boston.  He  died  August  18,  1771, 
aged  fifty  six.  In  the  gazette  notices  of  his  death, 
he  is  characterized  as  "a  man  of  good  understand- 
ing and  sound  judgment,  diligent  in  his  business, 
though  not  a  slave  to  it,  upright  in  his  dealings, 
honest  and  sincere  in  all  his  professions,  and  a 
stranger  to  dissimulation."*  By  his  last  will,  made 

•  In  the  philosophy  chamber,  at  Cambridge,  is  an  excellent 
portrait  of  this  gentleman,  painted  by  Copiey.  It  iS  in  a  style  of 
ease  and  amenity,  which  renders  it  singularly  prepossessing.    TIU' 


IV 


a  few  weeks  before  his  decease,  among  other  ju- 
dicious dispositions  of  his  property,  he  bequeathed 
fifteen  hundred  pounds  lawful  money,  as  a  founda- 
tion for  a  professorship  of  rhetoric  and  oratoiy  in 
Harvard  college.  This  sum  was  paid  to  the  col- 
lege treasurer  in  February  1772,  by  his  executors, 
and  was  placed  at  interest,  for  the  purpose  express- 
ed by  the  donor. 

The  progressive  accumulation  of  the  fund  was 
in  a  degree  impeded,  in  the  course  of  tlie  revolu- 
tionary war;  and  it  was  not  until  the  year  1804, 
that  the  amount  was  considered  adequate  to  the 
object.  In  the  summer  of  that  year,  the  "  rules, 
directions,  and  statutes  of  the  Boylston  professor- 
ship of  rhetoric  and  oratory  in  Harvard  college," 
which  had  previously  been  prepared  and  adopted 
by  the  corporation,  were  approved  by  the  board 
of  overseers. 

In  June  1805  the  honorable  John  Quincy 
Adams  was  chosen,  by  the  corporation,  the  first 
professor  on  this  foundation.  This  choice  was 
confirmed  by  the  overseers  on  the  twent}^  fifth  of 
July.  Mr.  Adams  accepted  the  appointment 
with  a  reservation,  which  should  leave  him  at  lib- 
erty to  attend  on  his  public  duties  in  congress;  he 
being  at  that  time  a  senator  of  the  United  States 

expression  of  the  countenance  is  admirable.  Lavater  would  have 
said,  /  see  there  the  genuine  indications  of  intelligence,  rectitude,  and 
benevolence.     That  man  must  have  been  the  delight  of  his  friends. 


from  Massachusetts.  At  subsequent  meetings  of 
the  corporation  and  overseers,  a  dispensation  was 
assented  to  in  this  particular,  and  some  alterations 
were  made  in  the  statutes. 

He  was  installed  June  12,  1806  ;  and 
on  that  occasion  pronounced  the  inaugural  dis- 
course, which  v.'as  soon  after  published,  at  tlie 
unanimous  request  of  the  students  ;  and  which  is 
now  prefixed  to  his  lectures. 

The  professor  immediately  after  his  induction 
entered  on  the  duties  of  his  office  ;  but,  in  conse- 
quence of  his  public  engagements,  and  as  permit- 
ted by  the  terms  of  his  acceptance,  confined  his 
attention  to  a  course  of  public  lectures  to  the  resi- 
dent graduates,  and  to  the  two  senior  classes  of 
under-graduates,  and  to  presiding  at  the  declama- 
tions of  the  two  senior  classes.  His  public  lec- 
tures were  continued  weekly,  in  term  time,  as  re- 
quired by  the  statutes,  excepting  such  intermis- 
sions, as  were  occasioned  by  his  attendance  on 
confess. 

On  the  twelfth  of  August  1808  he  completed 
his  course,  comprising  thirty  six  lectures,  and  had 
advanced  nearly  through  a  repetition  of  it,  when, 
early  in  July  last,  he  announced,  by  a  letter  to  the 
corporation,  the  resignation  of  his  office,  "  on  ac- 
count of  a  call  in  the  foreign  service  of  the  coun- 
try." He  tpok  leave  of  the  students  in  his  lec- 
ture, delivered  on  the  twenty  eighth  of  July,  and 


O  f'>  /?  .o  A  r» 


VI 


soon  afterward  embarked  for  Russia,  being  ap- 
pointed minister  plenipotentiary  to  the  court  of 
St.  Petersburg.  Previously  to  his  departure,  he 
was  respectfully  requested,  by  the  two  senior 
classes  in  the  college,  to  consent  to  a  publication 
of  his  lectures.  He  \  ielded  to  this  request,  though 
not  without  hesitation,  as  his  approaching  depart- 
ure and  various  incidental  occupations  would  ren- 
der a  revisal  of  the  work  impracticable ;  and  espe- 
cially as  the  whole  subject,  belonging  to  the  pro- 
fessorship, had  not  been  discussed.  These  lec- 
tures however  comprehend  what,  in  his  estima- 
tion, iDclongs  to  rhetoric ;  and  contain  the  theory  of 
his  branch.  The  practical  part,  or  what  belonged 
to  oratory^  he  intended  to  treat  at  a  future  period; 
and  to  give,  under  that  head,  a  detailed  analysis 
of  the  productions  of  the  most  distinguished 
oratoi's,  ancient  and  modern. 

However  the  author  may  have  regretted,  that 
these  lectures  were  thus  destined  to  appear  before 
tlie  world  without  his  deliberate  revisal,  they  will, 
it  is  believed,  be  considered  as  a  valuable  acquisi- 
tion to  the  public,  in  their  present  form.  The 
multiplied  stores,  derived  from  extensive  reading, 
the  energies  of  a  strong  and  discriminating  mind, 
and  the  results  of  much  experience  and  observa- 
tion, are  therein  exhibited.  To  relieve  and  ani- 
mate the  discussions,  appertaining  to  his  subject, 
he  thought   proper  frequently  to  indulge  in  figu- 


vu 

rative  expression  to  a  degree,  which  some  may 
not  entirely  approve.  This  however  was  not 
less  the  result  of  deliberation,  than  of  taste.  He 
considered  his  auditory  ;  that  impression  was  in- 
dispensable; and  regarded  the  intimation  of  Quinc- 
tilian,  Studium  discendi  voluntate  constat.  It  is 
certain  that  his  success,  in  securing  the  fixed  and 
habitual  attention  of  his  auditors,  was  complete. 
It  will  be  found  that  they  were  not  excited  with- 
out an  adequate  and  interesting  object.  In  addi- 
tion to  the  mass  of  information  and  ingenious  dis- 
cussion on  his  appropriate  topic,  those  great  and 
essential  principles,  on  which  the  true  dignity  and 
beauty  of  the  human  character  depend,  will  be 
found,  on  every  fit  occasion,  to  be  forcibly  incul- 
cated. Like  his  admired  ^lilton^  it  was  his  con- 
stant aim  to  point  out  "  the  right  path  of  a  virtu- 
ous and  noble  education."  In  concurrence  with 
the  habitual  genius  of  our  Alma  Mater,  he  consult- 
ed the  best  good  of  the  pupils,  and  "  sought  to 
temper  them  such  lectures  and  explanations  upon 
every  opportunity,"  as  might "  lead  and  draw  them 
in  willing  obedience,  inflamed  with  the  study  of 
learning  and  the  admiration  of  virtue  ;  stirred  up 
with  high  hopes  of  living  to  be  brave  men,  and 
worthy  patriots,  dear  to  God,  and  famous  to  all 
ages." 

The  corporation  lost  no  time  in  supplying  the 
vacancy,  occasioned  by  Mr.  Adam.s'  resignation. 


Vlll 


On  the  twenty  fifth  of  August  last,  they  made 
choice  of  the  Rev.  Joseph  McKean  for  that  office. 
His  election  was  confirmed  by  the  overseers. 
Mr.  McKeariy  having  accepted  the  ap])ointment, 
was  installed,  in  the  usual  academical  form,  on  the 
thirty  first  of  October ;  and  on  that  occasion  de- 
livered an  appropriate  Latin  address.  He  entered 
immediately  on  .the  duties  of  his  office. 

February  26,  1810. 


CONTENTS. 


VOLUME    FIRST. 

PAOB. 

fNAUGURAL   ORATION  ....  9 

LECT.  I. 
General  view  of  rhetoric  and  oratory       .         .         33 

LECT.  II. 

Objections  agaimt  eloquence  considered      .       .       53 

LECT.  in. 

Origin  of  oratory  ...  .         .         73 

LECT.  IV. 

Orig-iji  and  progress  of  oratory  at  Rome        .  95 

LECT.   V. 

Cicero  and  his  rhetorical  xvritings         .         .         117 

LECT.  VL 

Institutes  and  character  of  ^inctilian         .  139 

LECT.  vn. 

Constituent  branches  of  rhetoric      .        .       .         161 
b 


C  CONTENTS. 

LECT.  VIII. 

State  of  the  controversy        .         .         .         .         183 

LECT.  IX. 
Topics 207 

LECT.    X. 

Arguments  and  demonstrative  oratory      .       .       229 

LECT.  XL 

Deliberative  oratory       .       .         .  .         .253 

LECT.    XIL 

yudicial  oratory         .  .         .         .         •         277 

LECT.    XIIL 

Judicial  oratory         .         .         .         •         •         297 

LECT.  XIV. 

Eloquence  of  the  pidpit         ....  321 

LECT.  xy. 

Intellectual  and  7noral  qualities  of  an  orator      .      343 

LECT.  XVL 

Excitation  ai^d  manageme7it  of  the  passions      .      367 

LECT.  XVIL 
Disposition.     Exordium        ....       391 

LECT.  XVIIL 

Narration. 411 


AK 


INAUGURAL    ORATION, 


dBlivered  at 


THE  AUTHOR'S  INSTALLATION, 


AS  BOYLSTON  PROFESSOR  OP 


RHETORIC  AND  ORATORY. 


INAUGURAL  ORATION. 


IT  is  die  fortune  of  some  opinions,  as  well  as 
.of  some  individual  characters,  to  have  been,  dur- 
ing a  long  succession  of  ages,  subjects  of  continu- 
al controversy  among  mankind.  In  forming  an 
estimate  of  the  moi*al  or  intellectual  merits  of  many 
a  person,  whose  name  is  recorded  in  the  volumes 
of  histoiy,  their  virtues  and  vices  are  so  nearly 
balanced,  that  their  station  in  the  ranks  of  fame 
has  never  been  precisely  assigned,  and  their  repu- 
tation, even  after  death,  vibrates  upon  the  hinges 
of  events,  with  which  they  have  little  or  no  per- 
ceptible connexion.  Such  too  has  been  the  des- 
tiny of  the  arts  and  sciences  in  general,  and  of  the 
art  of  rhetoric  in  particular.  Their  advancement 
and  decline  have  been  alternate  in  the  annals  of 
the  world.  At  one  period  they  have  been  cher- 
ished, admired,  and  cultivated  ;  at  another  neg- 


12  INAUGURAL   ORATION. 

lected,  despised,  and  oppressed.  Like  the  fe- 
vorites  of  princes,  they  have  had  their  turns  of 
unbounded  influence  and  of  excessive  degrada- 
tion. Now  the  enthusiasm  of  their  votaries  has 
raised  them  to  the  pinnacle  of  greatness  ;  now  a 
turn  of  the  wheel  has  hurled  them  prostrate  in  the 
dust.  Nor  have  these  great  and  sudden  revolu- 
tions always  resulted  from  causes  seemingly  capa- 
ble of  producing  such  effects.  At  one  period 
the  barbarian  conqueror  destroys,  at  another  he 
adopts,  the  arts  of  the  vanquished  people.  The 
Grecian  muses  were  led  captive  and  in  chains  to 
Rome.  Once  there,  they  not  only  burst  asun- 
der their  own  fetters,  but  soon,  mounting  the  tri- 
umphal car,  rode  with  supreme  ascendency  over 
their  victors.  More  than  once  h'^ve  the  Tartars, 
after  caiT}ing  conquest  and  desolation  over  the 
empire  of  China,  been  subdued  in  turn  by  the 
arts  of  the  nation,  they  had  enslaved.  As  if  by  a 
wise  and  equitable  retribution  of  nature  the  au- 
thors of  violence  were  doomed  to  be  overpowered 
by  their  own  prosperity,  and  to  find  in  every 
victory  the  seeds  of  defeat. 

On  the  other  hand  the  arts  and  sciences,  at  the 
hour  of  their  highest  exaltation,  have  been  often 
reproached  and  insulted  by  those,  on  whom,  they 


INAUGURAL  ORATION.  13 

had  bestowed  their  choicest  favors,  and  most 
cruelly  assaulted  by  the  weapons,  which  them- 
selves had  conferred.  At  the  zenith  of  modern 
civilization  the  palm  of  unanswered  eloquence  was 
awarded  to  the  writer,  who  maintained,  that  the 
sciences  had  always  promoted  rather  the  miser}-, 
than  the  happiness  of  mankind ;  and  in  the  age 
and  nation,  which  heard  the  voice  of  Demosthe- 
nes,  Socrates  has  been  represented  as  triumphant. 
ly  demonstrating,  that  rhetoric  cannot  be  digni- 
fied with  the  name  of  an  art ;  that  it  is  but  a 
pernicious  practice.. ..the  mere  counterfeit  of  jus- 
tice. This  opinion  has  had  its  followers  from  tlie 
days  of  Socrates  to  our  own  ;  and  it  still  remains 
an  inquiry  among  men,  as  in  the  age  of  Plato,  and 
in  that  of  Cicero,  whether  eloquence  is  an  art, 
worthy  of  the  cultivation  of  a  wise  and  virtuous 
man.  To  assist  us  in  bringing  the  mind  to  a  sat- 
isfactory result  of  this  inquiry,  it  is  proper  to 
consider  the  art,  as  well  in  its  nature,  as  in  its  ef- 
fects ;  to  derive  our  inferences,  not  merely  from 
the  uses,  which  Imve  been  made  of  it,  but  from 
the  purposes,  to  which  it  ought  to  be  applied,  and 
the  end,  which  it  is  destined  to  answer. 

The  peculiar  and  highest  characteristic,  which 
distinguishes  man   from  tlie  rest  of  the  animal 


14  INAUGURAL   ORATION. 

creation,  is  reason.  It  is  by  this  attribute,  tliat 
our  species  is  constituted  tlie  great  link  between 
the  physical  and  intellectual  world.  By  our  pas- 
sions and  appetites  we  are  placed  on  a  level  with 
the  herds  of  the  forest ;  by  our  reason  we  par- 
ticipate of  the  divine  nature  itselt.  Formed  of 
clay,  and  compounded  of  dust,  we  are,  in  the 
scale  of  creation,  little  higher  than  the  clod  of  the 
valley ;  endowed  with  reason,  we  are  little  lower 
than  the  angels.  It  is  by  the  gift  of  reason,  that 
the  human  species  enjoys  the  exclusive  and  ines- 
timable privilege  of  progi'essive  improvement, 
and  is  enabled  to  avail  itself  of  the  advantages  of 
individual  discovery.  As  the  necessary  adjunct 
and  vehicle  of  reason,  the  faculty  of  speech  was 
also  bestowed  as  an  exclusive  privilege  upon  man ; 
not  the  mei-e  utterance  of  articulate  sounds ;  no^ 
the  mere  cries  of  passion,  which  he  has  in  com- 
mon with  the  lower  orders  of  animated  nature ; 
but  as  the  conveyance  of  thought ;  as  the  means 
of  rational  intercourse  with  his  fellow- creature, 
and  of  humble  communion  with  his  God.  It  is 
by  the  means  of  reason,  clothed  with  speech,  that 
die  most  precious  blessings  of  social  life  are 
communicated  from  man  to  man,  and  that  sup- 
plication, t!iiinksgi\'ing,  and  praise,  are  addressed 


INAUGURAL  ORAT'lON.  15 

W  the  Autlior  of  the  universe.     How  justly  then, 
with  the  great  dramatic  poet,  may  we  exclaim, 

«  Sure,  he  that  made  us  with  such  large  discourse, 
Looking  before  and  after,  gave  us  not 
That  capability  and  God-like  reason, 
To  rust  in  us,  unus'd." 

A  faculty  thus  elevated,  given  us  for  so  sub- 
lune  a  purpose,  and  destined  to  an  end  so  excel- 
lent, was  not  intended  by  the  supreme  Creator  to 
be  buried  in  the  grave  of  neglect.  As  the  source 
of  all  human  improvements,  it  was  itself  suscep- 
tible of  improvement  by  industry  and  application, 
by  observation  and  experience.  Hence,  wher- 
ever man  has  been  found  in  a  social  state,  and 
wherever  he  has  been  sensible  of  his  dependence 
upon  a  supreme  disposer  of  events,  the  value 
and  the  power  of  public  speaking,  if  not  univer- 
sally acknowledged,  has  at  least  been  universal!}- 
felt. 

For  the  truth  of  these  remarks,  let  me  appeal 
to  the  testimony  of  history,  sacred  and  profane. 
We  shall  find  it  equally  clear  and  conclusive 
from  the  earliest  of  her  records,  which  have 
escaped  the  ravages  of  time.  When  the  people 
of  God  were  groaning   under  the  insupportable 


16  INAUGURAL    ORATION. 

ojDpressions  of  Egyptian  bondage,  and  die  Lord 
of  Hosts  condescended,  by  miraculous  interposi- 
tion, to  raise  them  up  a  deliverer,  the  \\'ant  of 
ELoq^uENCE  was  pleaded,  by  the  chosen  object 
of  his  ministry,  as  an  argument  of  his  incom- 
petency for  the  high  commission,  with  which  he 
was  to  be  charged.  To  supply  this  deficiency, 
which,  even  in  the  communication  of  more  than 
human  powers.  Eternal  Wisdom  had  not  seen  fit 
to  romove,  another  favored  servant  of  the  Most 
High  was  united  in  the  exalted  trust  of  deliverance, 
and  specially  appointed,  for  the  purpose  of  declar- 
ing the  divine  will  to  the  oppressor  and  the  op- 
pressed ;  to  the  monai'ch  of  Egypt  and  the  chil- 
dren of  Israel.  "  Is  not  Aaron,  the  Levite,  thy 
brother  ?  I  know  that  he  can  speak  well. 
And  he  shall  be  thy  spokesman  unto  the  people ; 
and  he  shall  be,  even  he  shall  be  to  thee  instead 
of  a  mouth,  and  thou  shalt  be  to  him  instead  of 
God." 

It  was  not  sufficient  for  the  beneficent  purpos- 
es of  divine  Providence,  that  the  shepherd  of 
his  flock  should  be  invested  with  the  power  of 
performing  signs  and  wonders  to  authenticate  his 
mission,  and  command  obedience  to  his  words. 
The  appropriate  instrument  to  appal  the  heart  of 


INAUGURAL    OrtATION.  17 

the  tyrant  upon  his  throne,  and  to  control  the 
wayward  dispositions  of  the  people,  was  an  elo- 
quent speaker ;  and  the  importance  of  the  duty 
is  apparent  in  the  distinction,  which  separated  it 
from  all  the  other  transcendent  gifts,  with  which 
•the  inspired  leader  was  endowed,  and  committed 
it, as  a  special  charge,  to  his  associate.  Nor  will  it 
escape  your  observation,  that,  when  the  first  great 
object  of  their  joint  mission  was  accomplished, 
and  the  sacred  system  of  laws  and  polity  for  the 
emancipated  nation  Vv^as  delivered  by  the  voice  of 
heaven  from  the  holy  mountain,  the  sam.c  elo- 
c^uENT  SPEAKER  was  Separated  from  among  thf 
children  of  Israel,  to  minister  in  the  priest's  of- 
fice ;  to  bear  the  iniquity  of  their  holy  things ; 
to  offer  up  to  God,  their  creator  and  preserver, 
the  public  tribute  of  their  social  adoration. 

In  the  fables  of  Greece  and  Egj'pt  the  impor- 
tance of  doquence  is  attested  by  the  belief,  that 
the  art  of  public  speaking  was  of  celestial  origin, 
ascribed  to  the  invention  of  a  God,  who,  from 
the  possession  of  this  faculty*,  was  supposed  to  be 
the  messenger  and  interpreter  of  Olympus.  It 
is  attested  by  the  solicitude,  with  which  the  art 
was  cultivated,  at  a  period  of  the  remotest  an- 
tiquity. 


18  INAircURAL    ORATION. 

With  the  first  ghmpse  of  historical  truth,! 
which  bursts  from  the  oriental  regions  of  mytho- 
logical romance,  in  that  feeble  and  dubious  twi- 
light, which  scarcely  discerns  the  distinction  be- 
tween the  fictions  of  pagan  suj^erstition  and  the 
narrative  of  real  events,  a  school  of  rhetoric  and 
orator}',  established  in  the  Peloponnesus,  dawns 
upon  our  \'iew.  After  the  lapse  of  a  thousand 
years  from  that  time,  Pausanias,  a  Grecian  geog- 
rapher and  historian,  explicitly  asserts,  that  he  had 
read  a  treatise  upon  the  art,  composed  by  the 
founder  of  this  school,  a  cotemporary  and  rela- 
tive of  Theseus,  in  the  age  preceding  that  of  the 
Trojan  war.  The  poems  of  Homer  abound  with 
still  more  decisive  proofs  of  the  estimation,  in 
which  the  powers  of  oratory  were  held,  and  of 
the  attention,  with  which  it  was  honored,  as  an 
essential  object  of  instruction  in  the  educa- 
tion of  youthv 

From  that  era,  through  the  long  series  of 
Greek  and  Roman  history  down  to  the  gloom  of 
universal  night,  in  which  the  glories  of  the  Roman 
empire  expired,  the  triumphs  and  the  splendor 
of  eloquence  are  multiplied  and  conspicuous. 
Then  it  was,  that  the  practice  of  the  art  attained 
a  perfection,  ever  since  unrivalled,  and  to  which 


INAUGURAL    ORATION.  19 

^l  succeeding  times  have  listened  with  admira- 
tion and  despair.  At  Athens  and  Rome  a  town 
meeting  could  scarcely  be  held,  without  being 
destined  to  immortality ;  a  question  of  property 
between  individual  citizens  could  scai'cely  be 
litigated,  without  occupying  the  attention,  and 
engaging  the  studies  of  the  remotest  nations  and 
the  most  distant  posterity. 

There  is  always  a  certain  correspondence  and 
proportion  between  the  estimation,  in  which  an 
art  is  held,  and  the  effects,  which  it  produces. 
In  the  flourishing  periods  of  Athens  and  Rome, 
eloquence  was  power.  It  was  at  pnce  the  in- 
sti'ument  and  the  spur  to  ambition.  The  talent 
of  public  speaking  was  the  key  to  the  highest 
dignities  ;  the  passport  to  the  supreme  dominion 
of  the  state.  The  rod  of  Hermes  was  the  sceptre 
of  empire  ;  the  voice  of  oratory  was  the  thunder 
of  Jupiter.  The  most  powerful  of  human  pas- 
sions was  enlisted  in  the  cause  of  eloquence,  and 
eloquence  in  return  was  the  most  effectual  aux- 
iliary to  the  passion.  In  proportion  to  the  won- 
ders, she  achieved,  was  the  eagerness  to  acquire 
the  faculties  of  this  mighty  magician.  Oratory 
was  taught,  as  the  occupation  of  a  life.  The 
course  of  instruction  commenced  ^vith  the  hifant 


20  INAUGURAL   ORATlOJf. 

in  the  cradle,  and  continued  to  the  meridian  of 
manhood.  It  was  made  tlie  fundamental  object 
of  education,  and  every  other  part  of  instruction 
for  childhood,  and  of  discipline  for  youth,  was 
bent  to  its  accommodation.  Arts,  science,  let- 
ters, were  to  be  thoroughly  studied  and  investi- 
gated upon  the  maxim,  that  an  orator  must  be  a 
man  of  universal  knowledge.  Moral  duties  were 
inculcated,  because  none  but  a  good  man  could 
be  an  orator.  Wisdom,  learning,  virtue  herself, 
were  estimated  by  their  subserviency  to  the  pur- 
poses of  eloquence,  and  the  whole  duty  of  man 
consisted  in  making  himself  an  accomplished  pub- 
lic speaker. 

With  the  dissolution  of  Roman  liberty,  and 
the  decline  of  Roman  taste,  the  reputation  and 
the  excellency  of  the  oratorical  art  fell  alike  into 
decay.  Under  the  despotism  of  the  Caesars,  the 
end  of  eloquence  was  perverted  from  persuasion 
to  panegyric,  and  all  her  faculties  were  soon  pal- 
sied by  the  touch  of  corruption,  or  enervated  by 
the  impotence  of  servitude.  Then  succeeded  the 
midnight  of  the  monkish  ages,  when  with  the  oth- 
er liberal  arts  she  slumbered  in  the  profound  dark- 
ness of  the  cloister. 


INAUGURAL  ORATION.  21 

At  the  revival  of  letters  in  modern  Europe,  ^ 
f  loquence,  together  with  her  sister  muses,  awoke, 
and  shook  the  poppies  from  her  brow.  But  theii- 
torpors  still  tingled  in  her  veins.  In  the  interval 
her  voice  was  gone  ;  her  favorite  languages  were 
extinct ;  her  organs  v/erc  no  longer  attuned  to 
harmony,  and  her  hcai-ers  could  no  longer  under- 
stand her  speech.  The  discordant  jargon  of  feu- 
dal anarchy  had  banished  the  musical  dialects,  in 
which  she  had  ah^'ays  delighted.  The  theatres  of 
her  former  triumphs  were  either  deserted,  or  they 
were  filled  with  the  babblers  of  sophistry  and  clii- 
cane.  She  shrunk  intuitively  from  the  forum, 
for  the  last  object  she  remembered  to  have  seen 
there  was  the  head  of  her  darling  Cicero,  planted 
upon  the  rostrum.  She  ascended  the  tribunals  of 
justice  ;  there  she  found  her  child.  Persuasion, 
manacled  and  pinioned  by  the  letter  of  the  h\v  ; 
there  she  beheld  an  image  of  herself,  stammering 
in  barbarous  Latin,  and  staggering  under  the  Iimi- 
ber  of  a  tliousand  volumes.  Her  heart  fainted 
within  her.  She  lost  all  confidence  in  herself. 
Together  with  her  irresistible  powers,  she  lost 
proportionably  the  consideration  of  the  world,  un- 
til, instead  of  comprising  the  whole  system  of  pub- 
lic education,  she  found  herself  excluded  from  the 


22  INAUGURAL  ORATION. 

circle  of  sciences,  and  declared  an  outlaw  from  the 
realms  of  learning.  She  was  not  however  doom- 
ed to  eternal  silence.  With  the  progress  of  free- 
dom and  of  liberal  science,  in  various  parts  of  mod- 
em Europe,  she  obtained  access  to  mingle  in  tlie 
deliberations  of  their  parliaments.  With  labor 
and  difficulty  she  learned  their  languages,  and  lent 
her  aid  in  giving  them  form  and  polish.  But  she 
has  never  recovered  die  graces  of  her  former 
beauty,  nor  the  energies  of  her  ancient  vigor. 

The  immeasurable  superiority  of  ancient  over 
modem  oratory  is  one  of  the  most  remarkable  cir- 
cumstances, which  offer  themselves  to  the  scruti- 
ny of  reflecting  minds,  and  it  is  in  the  languages, 
the  institutions,  and  the  manners  of  modern  Eu- 
rope, that  the  solution  of  a  phenomenon,  so  extra- 
ordinary, must  be  sought.  The  assemblies  of 
the  people,  of  the  select  councils,  or  of  the  senate 
in  Athens  and  Rome,  were  held  for  the  purpose  of 
real  deliberation.  Tlic  fiite  of  measures  was  not 
decided  before  they  were  proposed.  Eloquence 
produced  a  powerful  effect,  not  only  upon  the 
minds  of  the  hearers,  but  upon  the  issue  of  the  de- 
liberation. In  the  only  countries  of  modem  Eu- 
rope, where  the  semblance  of  deliberative  assem- 
blies has  been  preserved,  corruption,  here  in  the 


INAUGURAL   OKATION".  23 

form  of  executive  influence,  there  in  the  guise  of 
party  spirit,  by  introducing  a  more  compendious 
mode  of  securing  decisions,  lias  crippled  the 
sublimest  efforts  of  oratory,  and  the  AOtes  upon 
questions  of  magnitude  to  the  interest  of  nations 
are  all  told,  long  before  the  questions  themselves 
are  submitted  to  discussion.  Hence  those  na- 
tions, which  for  ages  have  gloried  in  the  devotion 
to  literature,  science,  and  the  arts,  have  never 
been  able  to  exhibit  a  specimen  of  deliberative 
oratory,  that  can  bear  a  comparison  with  those, 
transmitted  down  to  us  from  antiquity. 

Religion  indeed  has  opened  one  new  avenue 
to  the  career  of  eloquence.  Amidst  the  sacrific- 
es of  paganism  to  her  three  hundred  thousand 
gods,  amidst  her  sagacious  and  solemn  consulta- 
tions in  the  entrails  of  slaughtered  brutes,  in  the 
flight  of  birds,  and  the  feeding  of  fowls,  it  had 
never  entered  her  imagination  to  call  upon  the 
pontiff,  the  haruspex,  or  the  augur,  for  discourses 
to  the  people,  on  the  nature  of  their  duties  to  their 
Maker,  their  fellow-mortals,  and  themsehes.  This 
was  an  idea,  too  august  to  be  mingled  with  the  ab- 
surd and  ridiculous,  or  profligate  and  barbarous 
rites  of  her  deplorable  superstition.  It  is  an  insti- 
tution, for  which  mankind  are  indebted  to  rhris- 


24  INAUGURAL  ORAtlOST. 

lianity  ;  introduced  by  the  Founder  himself  of 
tliis  divine  rehgion,  and  in  every  point  of  view 
worthy  of  its  high  original.  Its  effects  have  been 
to  soften  the  tempers  and  purify  tlie  morals  of 
mankind  ;  not  in  so  high  a  degree,  as  benevolence 
could  wish,  but  enough  to  call  forth  our  strains 
of  warmest  gratitude  to  that  good  being,  who  pro- 
vides us  with  the  means  of  promoting  our  o\in  fe- 
licity, and  gives  us  power  to  stand,  though  leaving 
us  free  to  fall.  Here  then  is  an  unbounded  and 
inexhaustible  field  for  eloquence,  never  explored 
by  the  ancient  orators  ;  and  here  alone  have  the 
modem  Europeans  cultivated  the  art  with  much 
success.  In  vain  should  we  enter  the  halls  of 
justice,  in  vain  should  we  listen  to  the  debates  of 
senates  for  strains  of  oratorj',  worthy  of  remem- 
brance, beyond  the  duration  of  the  occasion,  which 
called  them  forth.  The  art  of  embalming  thought 
by  oratory,  like  tliat  of  embalming  bodies  by  ar- 
omatics,  would  have  perished,  but  for  the  exer- 
cises of  rcliarion.     These  alone  have  in  the  latter 

o 

ages  furnished  discourses,  which  remind  iis,  that 
eloquence  is  yet  a  faculty  of  the  human  mind. 

Among  the  causes,  w^hich  have  contributed 
thus  to  depress  the  oratory  of  modem  times,  must 
be  numbered  the  indifference,  with  which  it  has 


INAUGURAL    ORATION.  25 

been  treated,  as  an  article  of  education.  The  an- 
cients had  fostered  an  opinion,  that  this  talent  was 
in  a  more  than  usual  degree  the  creature  of  disci- 
pline  ;  and  it  is  one  of  the  maxims,  handed  down 
to  us,  as  the  result  of  their  experience,  that  men 
nmst  be  born  to  poetry,  and  bred  to  eloquence  ; 
that  the  bard  is  always  the  child  of  nature,  and  the 
orator  always  the  issue  of  instruction.  The  doc- 
trine seems  to  be  not  entireh'^  without  foundation, 
but  was  by  them  carried  in  both  its  parts  to  an 
extravagant  excess. 

The  foundations  for  the  oratorical  talent,  as 
well  as  those  of  the  poetical  faculty,  must  be  laid 
in  the  bounties  of  nature ;  and  as  the  muse  in 
Homer,  impartial  in  her  distribution  of  good 
and  evil,  struck  the  bard  with  blindness,  when 
she  gave  him  the  powers  of  song,  her  sister  not 
unfrequendy,  by  a  like  mixture  of  tenderness  and 
rigor,  bestows  the  blessing  of  wisdom,  while  she 
refuses  the  readiness  of  utterance.  Without  en- 
tering however  into  a  disquisition,  which  w  ould 
lead  me  far  beyond  the  limits  of  this  occasion,  1 
may  remark,  that  the  modern  Europeans  have  run 
into  the  adverse  extreme,  and  appear,  during  a 
considerable  period,  in  their  system  of  public  edu- 
cation, to  have  passed  upon  eloquence  a  sentence 
4 


26  INAUGURAL    ORATION. 

of  proscription.  Even  when  they  studied  rhet- 
oric, as  a  theory,  they  neglected  oratory,  as  an 
art ;  and  while  assiduously  unfolding  to  their  pu- 
pils the  bright  displays  of  Greek  and  Roman  elo- 
quence, they  never  attempted  to  make  them  elo- 
quent themselves.  Of  the  prevailing  indifference 
to  this  department  of  human  leiuTiing  no  stronger 
evidence  could  be  offered,  than  the  circumstances, 
under  which  we  are  assembled. 

Nearly  two  centuries  have  elapsed  since  the 
foundation  of  this  university.  There  never  ex- 
isted a  people  more  anxious  to  bestow  upon  their 
children  the  advantages  of  education,  than  our 
venerable  forefathers ;  and  the  name  of  Harvard 
is  coeval  with  the  first  settlement  of  New  Eng- 
land. Their  immediate  and  remote  descendants 
down  to  this  day  have  inherited  and  transmitted 
the  same  laudable  ardor,  and  numerous  founda- 
tions of  various  khids  attest  their  attachment  to 
science  and  literature ;  yet  so  far  have  rhetoric 
and  oratory  been  from  enjoying  a  preeminence 
in  their  system  of  education,  that  they  are  now, 
for  the  first  time,  made  a  separate  branch  of  in- 
struction ;  and  I  stand  here  to  assume  the  duties 
of  the  first  instructer.  The  establishment  of  an 
institution  for  the  purpose  was  reserved  to  the 


INAUGURAL    ORATION.  27 

name  of  Boylston  ;    a  name,  which,  if  public 
benefits  can  impart  a  title  to  remembrance,  New 
England  will  not  easily  forget ;    a  name,  to  tlie 
benevolence,  public  spirit,  and  genuine  patriotism 
of  which,  this  university,  the  neighboring  metrop- 
olis, and  this  whole  nation  have  long  had,  and  still 
have  many  reasons  to  attest ;    a  name,  less  distin- 
guished by  stations  of  splendor,  than  by  deeds  of 
virtue ;  and  better  known  to  this  people  by  bless- 
ings enjoyed,  than  by  favors  granted ;  a  name,  in 
fine,  which,  if  not  encircled  with  the  external  radi- 
ance of  popularity,  beams,  brightly  beams,  with 
the  inward  lustre  of  beneficence.     The  institution 
itself  is  not  of  a  recent  date.     One  generation  of 
mankind,  according  to  the  usual  estimates  of  hu- 
man life,  has  gone  by,  since  the  donation  of  Nich- 
olas Bo}'lston  constituted  the  fund  for  the  support 
of  this  professorship.      The  misfortunes,   which 
befel  the  university,  unavoidably  consequent  upon 
our  revolution,  and  other  causes,  have  concurred 
in  delaying  the  execution  of  his  intentions  until 
the  present  time ;    and  Q\en  now   they  have  the 
prospect  of  little  more  than  honest  zeal  for  their 
accom  plishment. 

In  reflecting  upon  the  nature  of  the  duties  I 
undertake,  a  consciousness  of  deficieijcy  for  the 


28  INAUGURz^L    ORATIO.V. 

task  of  their  performance  dwells  upon  my  mind  ; 
which,  however  ungraciously  it  may  come  from 
my  lips,  after  accepting  the  appointment,  with 
which  I  am  honored,  I  yet  cannot  forbear  to  ex- 
press. Though  the  course  of  my  life  has  led  me 
to  witness  the  practice  of  this  art  in  various  forms, 
and  though  its  theory  has  sometimes  attracted  my 
attention,  yet  my  acquaintance  with  both  has  been 
of  a  general  nature  ;  and  I  can  presume  neither  to 
n  profound  investigation  of  the  one,  nor  an  exten- 
sive experience  of  the  other.  The  habits  of  in- 
struction too  are  not  familiar  to  me ;  and  they 
constitute  an  art  of  little  less  difficulty  and  delica- 
c}^,  than  tliat  of  oratory  itself ;  yet,  as  the  career 
jnust  necessarily  be  ne^v,  by  whomsoever  it  should 
here  be  explored,  and  as  it  leads  to  a  course  of 
pleasing  speculations  and  studies,  I  shall  rely  up- 
on the  indulgence  of  the  friends  and  patrons  to 
this  seminary  towards  well-meant  endeavors,  and 
assume  with  diffidence  the  discharge  of  the  func- 
tions, allotted  to  the  institution.  In  the  theory  of 
the  art,  and  the  prmciples  of  exposition,  novelty 
\viU  not  be  expected ;  nor  is  it  perhaps  to  be  de- 
sired. A  subject,  which  has  exhausted  the  genius 
of  Aristotle,  Cicero,  and  Quinctilian,  can  neither 
require  nor   admit   much  additional  illustration. 


INAUGURAL    ORATION.  29 

To  select,  combine,  and  apply  their  precepts,  is 
the  only  duty  left  for  their  followers  of  all  succeed- 
ing times,  and  to  obtain  a  perfect  familiarity  with 
their  instructions  is  to  arrive  at  the  mastery  of  the 
art.  For  effecting  this  purpose,  the  teacher  can 
do  little  more,  than  second  the  ardor  and  assiduity 
of  the  scholar.  In  the  generous  thirst  for  useful 
knowledge,  in  the  honorable  emulation  of  excel- 
lence, which  distinguishes  the  students  of  this 
university,  I  trust  to  find  an  apology  for  the  de- 
ficiencies of  the  lecturer.  The  richness  of  the  soil 
will  compensate  for  the  unskiJfulness  of  the  til- 
lage. 

Sons  of  Harvard  !  You,  who  are  ascending 
with  painful  step  and  perscAcring  toil  the  emi- 
nence of  science,  to  prepare  yourselves  for  the 
\arious  functions  and  employments  of  the  world 
before  you,  it  cannot  be  necessary  to  urge  upon 
you  the  importimce  of  the  art,  concerning  which  I 
am  speaking.  Is  it  the  purpose  of  your  future 
life  to  minister  in  the  temples  of  Almighty  God, 
to  be  tlie  messenger  of  heaven  upon  earth,  to  en- 
lighten with  the  torch  of  eternal  truth  the  path  of 
your  fellow-mortals  to  brighter  worlds  ?  Remem- 
ber the  reason,  assigned  for  the  appointment  of 
Aaron  to  that  ministry,  which  you  purpose  to  as- 


30  INAUGURAL     ORATION. 

sume  upon  yourself.     I  know,   that  he  can 
SPEAK  well;  and,  in  this  testimonial  of  Omnip- 
otence, receive  the  injunction  of  your  duty.     Is 
your  intention  to  devote  the  labors  of  }'Our  matu- 
rity to  tlie  cause  of  justice ;    to   defend  the  per- 
sons,  the  property,  and  the  fame  of  your  fellow 
citizens  from  the  open  assaults  of  violence,  and  the 
secret  encroachments  of  fraud  ?    Fill  the  fountains 
of  your  eloquence  from  inexhaustible  sources,  that 
their  streams,  when  they  sliall  begin  to  flow,  may 
themselves  prove  inexhaustible.     Is  there  among 
you  a  yoiith,  whose  bosom  burns  with  the  fires  of 
honorable  ambition ;    who  aspires  to  immortalize 
his  name  by  the  extent  and  importance  of  his  ser- 
vices to  his  country ;  whose  visions  of  futurity 
glow  with  the  hope  of  presiding  in  her  councils,  of 
directing  her  affairs,  of  appearing  to  future  ages  on 
the  rolls  of  fame,  as  her  ornament  and  pride  ?  Let 
him  catch  from  the  relics  of  ancient  oratory  those 
unresisted  powers,  which  mould  the  mind  of  man 
to  the  will  of  the  speaker,  and  yield  the  guidance 
of  a  nation  to  the  dominion  of  the  voice. 

Under  governments  purely  republican,  where 
every  citizen  has  a  deep  interest  in  the  affairs  of 
llic  nation,  and,  in  some  form  of  public  assembly 
or  other,  has  the  means  and  opportunity  of  deliver. 


INAUGURAL    ORATION.  31 

ing  his  opinions,  and  of  communicating  his  senti- 
ments by  speech  ;  where  government  itself  has  no 
arms  but  those  of  persuasion  ;  where  prejudice 
has  not  acquired  an  uncontrolcd  ascendency,  and 
faction  is  yet  confined  within  the  barriers  of  peace ; 
the  voice  of  eloquence  will  not  be  heard  in  vain. 
March  then  with  firm,  \\ith  steady,  with  undeviat- 
ing  step,  to  the  prize  of  your  high  calling.  Gatli- 
er  fragrance  from  the  whole  paradise  of  science,  and 
learn  to  distil  from  your  lips  all  the  honies  of  per- 
suasion. Consecrate,  above  all,  the  faculties  of 
your  life  to  the  cause  of  truth,  of  freedom,  and  of 
humanit}-.  So  shall  your  country  ever  gladden 
at  the  sound  of  your  voice,  and  every  talent,  added 
to  your  accomplishments,  become  another  bJess- 
ing  to  mankind. 


LECTUllE  1. 


GENERAL  VIEW  OF  RHETORIC   AND  ORATORY 


IN  entering  upon  a  course  of  lectures  on  sub- 
jects, which  have  not  hitherto  been  treated,  as  sep- 
arate branches  of  instruction  at  this  place,  and 
which  must  in  some  sort  bear  the  characters  of 
novelty,  it  will  be  proper  to  take  a  general  view 
of  the  nature  and  extent  of  the  field  before  us. 
Although,  until  this  time,  no  specific  and  peculiar 
establishment,  confined  to  rhetoric  and  oratory,  has 
existed,  yet  die  pupils  of  this  seminary  have  not 
been  destitute  of  instruction  upon  its  most  essen- 
tial parts,  under  the  direction  of  teachers  in  the 
kindred  arts  of  grammar,  or  language  in  gener- 
al, and  of  logic.  As  these  departments  of  study 
still  remain,  and  the  institution,  under  which  I  ap- 
pear, has  been  superadded  to  them,  by  embracing 

a  part  of  their  duties,  a  prcliminarv  consideration 
5 


34  GENERAL  VIEW   OF  [l£CT.  I. 

requires,  that  wc  should  ascertain  precisely 
what  is  the  compass  and  extent  of  this  art, 
and  where  arc  the  lines,  by  which  it  is  separated 
from  the  study  of  language  in  general,  ^\-ithout 
which  it  cannot  exist  at  all ;  and  from  the  art  of 
reasoning,  without  which  that  of  oratory  would  be 
destitute  of  all  solid  foundation. 

The  subjects,  upon  which  it  is  my  pro- 
^■ince  to  discourse,  are  rlietoric  and  oratory  ; 
terms,  which  in  ordinary  language  are  often  used, 
as  synonymous  in  their  meaning  ;  but  \\hich  are 
to  be  distinguished,  as  properly  applying,  the  for- 
mer to  the  theory,  and  the  latter  to  the  practice  of 
the  art.  This  distinction  will  become  the  more 
obvious  from  the  consideration,  that  the  terms  are, 
even  in  common  understanding,  no  longer  con- 
vertible, when  modified  to  designate  the  persons, 
professing  them  ;  and  the  difference  between  the 
rhetorician  and  the  orator,  is  instantly  perceived 
and  distinctly  conveyed,  by  the  mere  use  of  these 
respective  appellations.  This  distinction  it  will 
be  proper  constantly  to  bear  in  mind.  It  is  al- 
ways useful  to  mark  the  difference,  as  well  as  the 
relation  l^etween  the  cause  and  its  effect ;  and  in 
the  progress  of  our  discussion  we  shall  have  fre- 
quent occasion  separately  and  distinctly  to  exam- 


LECT.  1.3       RHETORIC   AND   ORATORY.  35 

ine  as  well  the  principles  of  the  rhctoricinn,  as  the 
performances  of  the  orator. 

The  definitions  of  rhetoric,  by  the  ancient  writ- 
ers upon  the  art,  are  so  numerous  and  so  various, 
not  only  in  the  selection  of  their  terms,  but  in  the 
ideas,  which  they  embrace,  that  Qiiinctilian,  after 
recapitulating  and  submitting  to  the  test  of  crit- 
ical  examination  a  grc.it  number  of  them,  declares, 
that  every  new  author  seemed  possessed  with  the 
foolish  ambition  of  discarding  all  definitions,  be- 
fore adopted  by  any  other,  and  determined  at  all 
events  to  give  one  of  his  own.  Among  the  ma- 
ny imperfect,  redundant,  and  aflfected  forms,  ^vhicli 
this  rage  for  novelty  of  expression,  and  this  studi' 
ed  indocility  to  the  toils  of  preceding  laborers, 
have  occasioned,  I  shall  present  to  your  consid- 
eration only  those  of  the  three  great  masters,  from 
whom  every  thing  of  real  importance  to  tlie  art 
has  been  derived,  Aristotle,  Cicero,  and  Quinc- 
tilian  himself.  Rhetoric,  says  Aristotle,  is  the 
power  of  inventing  whatsoever  is  persuasive  in 
discourse. 

This  is  liable  to  two  objections.  First,  as  it 
includes  only  one  part  of  the  art,  invention,  omit- 
ting  the  essential  requisites  of  disposition  and  elo- 
cution.    And  secondly,  though  persuasion  be  one 


36  GENERAL   VIEW   OF  [lECT.  I. 

of  the  principal  ends  of  rhetoric,  it  is  not  exclu- 
sively so.  Of  a  very  important  and  extensiv(p 
class  of  discourses,  styled  by  Aristotle  himself, 
and  by  all  the  other  ancient  rhetoricians,  demon- 
strative orations,  persuasion  is  not  even  the  prin- 
cipal end  ;  and,  even  in  the  fields  of  deliberative 
and  judicial  eloquence,  all  the  arts  of  rhetoric 
have  often  been  employed  without  producing  per- 
suafiion. 

This  difficulty  stands  yet  more  conspicuously 
in  the  way  of  Cicero's  definition,  the  art  of  per- 
suasion ;  a  definition,  appearing  indeed  only  in  the 
rhetorical  compilations  of  his  youth,  of  which  he 
himself  afterwards  entertained  a  very  indifferent 
opinion.  To  say,  that  rhetoric  is  the  art  of  per- 
suasion, is  to  make  success  the  only  criterion  of 
eloquence.  Persuasion  must  in  a  great  measure 
depend  upon  the  "vviil,  the  temper,  and  the  dispo- 
sition of  the  hearei".  If  the  adder  will  turn  away 
his  ear,  what  persuasion  is  there  in  the  voice  of 
the  charmer  ?  Persuasion  then  is  not  the  infallible 
test  of  the  rhetorical  art ;  neither  is  rhetoric  ex- 
clusively in  possession  of  persuasion.  To  enume- 
rate all  the  instruments  of  persuasion,  would  be 
to  give  a  catalogue  of  all  the  passions  and  motives. 


LECT,  I.]   RHETORIC  AND  ORATORY.        57 

which  can,  without  the  exercise  offeree,  be  made 
to  operate  upon  the  human  mind. 

Persuasive  speech,  and  more  persuasive  sighs. 
Silence,  that  speaks,  and  eloquence  of  eyes. 

pope's  II.IAD,  xi\  .  250. 

To  this  it  has  been  justly  replied,  that  persua- 
sion, being  so  nearly  identified  with  the  liltimate 
purpose  of  all  oratorical  art,  may  witliout  danger 
be  admitted,  as  the  same  in  every  case,  where  phi- 
losophical precision  is  unnecessary.  Of  delibera- 
tive and  judicial  eloquence  persuasion  is  the  gi'cat 
and  fundamental  object ;  and  the  public  speaker, 
in  composing  or  pronouncing  liis  discourse,  should 
never  lose  sight  of  this  principle.  There  is  no 
better  test  for  the  correctness  of  any  precept  in  the 
science  of  rhetoric,  nor  for  the  excellence  of  any 
example  in  the  practice  of  oratory,  than  its  apti- 
tude to  persuasion.  But  as  tlie  object  of  a  scien- 
tific definition  is  to  comprise  in  the  fewest  words 
the  whole  substance  of  the  term  defined,  and 
nothing  more,  it  must  be  allowed,  that  those 
of  Aristotle  and  Cicero  are  not  absolutely  unex- 
ceptionable. 

The  definition,  adopted  by  Quinctilian  from 
some  former  writer,  whom  he  does  not  name,  is 


38  CENEllAL  VIEW   OF  [lECT.  I, 

more  correct,  more  precise,  and  conipreliensive. 
Rhetoric  in  his  judgment  is  the  science  of  speak- 
ing well.  The  principal  reason,  which  he  assigns 
for  preferring  this  definition  to  all  the  rest,  may 
perhaps  be  controverted,  for  he  contends,  that  it 
includes  the  moral  character  of  the  speaker,  as 
well  as  the  excellence  of  speech ;  because  none 
but  an  'honest  man  can  speak  well.  I  shall  on  a 
future  occasion  examine  impartially,  and  endeavor 
to  ascertain  precisely  the  true  value  of  this  opin- 
ion, Vv'hlch  is  so  Vv-armly  advocated  b}'  all  the  great 
orators  of  antiquity.  At  present  I  shall  only  re- 
mark, that  admitting  the  maxim  in  its  fullest  lati- 
tude, it  does  not  appear  to  me  to  be  necessarily 
implied  in  this  definition ;  nor  can  I  admit  the 
argument,  as  decisive  for  giving  it  the  prefer^ 
ence. 

The  reasons,  wliich  I  deem  far  more  conclu- 
sive for  adopting  it,  are  its  comprehensive  simplic- 
ity, and  its  remarkable  coincidence  with  that  vir- 
tual definition  of  the  art,  contained  in  the  holy  scrip- 
tures. The  art  of  speaking  well  embraces  in  the 
fewest  possible  words  the  whole  compass  of  the 
subject.  You  can  imagine  no  species  of  rhetori- 
cal excellence,  which  would  not  be  included  in 
the  idea,  and  the  idea  involves  nothing  beyond 


LECT.  I.]   RHETORIC  AND  ORATORY.        39 

the  boundaries  of  tlie  art.     It  is  full  without  re- 
dundance, and  capacious  without  obscurity. 

It  has  also  the  sanction  of  holy  writ.  Observe 
the  force  of  the  expressions,  used  in  the  solemn  in- 
terview between  the  suprcine  Creator  and 

"  That  shepherd,  who  first  taught  the  chosen  seed, 
"  In  the  bcgiiining,  how  the  heavens  and  earth 
"  Rose  out  of  chaos." 

And  Moses  said  unto  the  Lord,  O  my  Lord,  I  am 
not  eloquent,  neither  heretofore,  nor  since  thou 
hast  spoken  unto  thy  servant.  What  is  the  even- 
tual reply  ?  Is  not  Aaron  the  Levite  tliy  brother  ? 
I  know  that  he  can  speak  well.  In  the  language 
of  sacred  inspiration  itself,  to  speak  well  is  pre- 
cisely equivalent  to  the  art  of  eloquence,  and  in 
this  definition  the  words  of  Quinctilian  are  ratified 
by  the  voice  of  heaven. 

His  approbation  of  another  definition,  w'hich 
includes  in  the  idea  of  rhetoric  the  art  of  thinking, 
together  Avith  that  of  speaking  well,  is  not  warrant- 
ed by  the  same  infallible  authority.  The  connex- 
ion between  genuine  rhetoric  and  sound  logic  is 
indeed  indissoluble.  All  good  speaking  must 
necessarily  rest  upon  the  basis  of  accurate  think- 
ing.    But  to  form  a  precise  idea  of  the  t^vo  arts, 


40  GENERAL  VIEW  OF  [lECT.  I. 

we  must  carefully  distinguish  them  from  each  other, 
and  confine  them  to  their  respective  peculiar  depart- 
ments ;  logic  to  the  operations  of  the  mind,  within 
itself ;  rhetoric  to  the  communication  of  their  re- 
sults to  the  minds  of  others.  In  this  view  logic 
is  the  store  house,  from  which  the  instruments  of 
rhetoric  are  to  be  drawn.  Logic  is  the  arsenal, 
and  rhetoric  the  artillery,  which  it  preserves. 
Both  have  their  utility;  both  contribute  to  the 
same  purposes.  But  the  arts  themselves  are  as 
distinct,  as  those  of  the  architect,  who  erects  the 
building,  and  of  the  armorer,  who  fabricates  the 
weapons.  Thus  Aristotle,  who  perceived  as  well 
the  clear  distinction,  as  the  necessary  relation  be- 
tween these  faculties,  has  treated  of  them  in  two 
distinct  works ;  and  unfolded  their  mysteries  with 
all  the  energies  of  his  profound,  comprehensive, 
and  discriminating  genius. 

Equally  proper  and  necessary  will  it  be  to 
separate  in  our  minds  the  science  of  rhetoric,  or 
of  speaking  well,  from  that  of  grammar,  or  the 
science  of  speaking  correctly.  Grammar  stands 
in  the  same  relation  to  rhetoric,  that  arithmetic 
bears  to  geometry.  Rhetoric  is  not  essential  to 
grammar,  but  grammar  is  indispensable  to  rheto- 
ric.     The  one  teaches  an  art  of  mere  necessitv ; 


LECT.  1.3       RHETORIC    AXD  ORATORY.  41 

the  Other,  an  art  of  superadded  ornament.  Witli- 
outa  system  of  grammatical  construction,  the  pow- 
er of  speech  itself  would  be  ofno  avail,  and  language 
would  be  a  mere  intellectual  chaos  ;  a  perpetual 
Babel  of  confusion.  But  the  powers  of  grammar 
extend  no  farther,  than  to  the  communication  of 
ideas.  To  delight  the  imagination,  or  to  move  the 
passions,  you  must  have  recourse  to  rhetoric. 
Grammar  clothes  the  shadowy  tribes  of  mind  in 
the  plain,  substantial  attire  of  a  quaker  ;  rhetoric 
arrays  them  in  the  glories  of  princely  magnifi- 
cence. Grammar  is  sufficient  to  conduct  you 
over  the  boundless  plains  of  thought ;  but  rhetor- 
ic alone  has  access  to  the  lofty  regions  of  fancy. 
Rhetoric  alone  can  penetrate  to  the  secret  cham- 
bers of  the  heart. 

If  then  we  adopt  the  definition  of  Quinctilian, 
that  rhetoric  is  the  science  of  speaking  well,  we 
may  apply  the  same  terms  to  define  omtory,  sub- 
stituting  only  the  word  ait,  instead  of  science.  In 
this  respect  our  language  offers  a  facility,  which 
neither  the  Greek  nor  the  Latin  possessed.  The 
Greeks  had  no  term  to  designate  the  art,  as  dis- 
tinguished from  the  dieory.  Their  science  was 
rhetoric,   and  their  speaker  was  a  rhetor.      The 

Romans  adopted  the  first  of  these  ^vords.  as  they 
6 


42  GENERAL  VIEW    OF  [lECT.  I. 

received  the  science  from  Greece.  To  signify 
the  speaker  they  used  tlie  word  orator,  derived 
from  their  own  language.  Some  attempts  wqyc 
made  to  put  in  circulation  the  term  oratoria,  but 
they  were  resisted  by  their  philological  critics, 
and  it  is  expressly  censured  and  rejected  by 
Quinctilian,  as  irreconcileable  with  their  etymo- 
logical analogies.  The  \vant  of  the  proper  word 
is  most  strikingly  discovered  in  the  titles  of  Cice- 
ro's rhetorical  works.  At  one  time  it  led  him  to 
the  necessity  of  assuming  a  part  for  the  whole, 
and  of  styling  four  books  of  rhetoric  a  treatise  up- 
on invention.  At  another  it  compelled  him  to 
embody  the  talent  itself  in  the  person  of  the  speak- 
er, and  denominate  his  system  of  oratory,  the  ora- 
tor. The  English  language  however  has  been 
less  scrupulous  in  its  adherence  to  the  niceties  of 
etymology.  It  has  admitted  the  term  oratory, 
which  the  Romans  so  fastidiously  excluded,  and 
annexes  to  it  a  modification  of  idea,  distinct  from 
that  of  the  Grecian  term,  which  has  also  been 
made  English  by  adoption.  Thus  accumulating 
our  riches  from  the  united  funds  of  Grecian  ge- 
nius and  of  Roman  industry,  we  call  rhetoric  the 
science,  and  oratory  the  art  of  speaking,  welL 


LECT.  I.]        RHETORIC   AND   ORATORY.  43 

But  to  avoid  misapprehension,  a  further  ex- 
planation of  the  sense,  in  which  the  words  are  to 
be  understood,  appears  to  be  necessary.  Speech 
as  the  most  ordinary  vehicle  of  communication 
between  men,  in  all  their  relations  with  one  anoth- 
er, whether  of  a  public  or  private  nature.  By  the 
lU't  or  science  of  speaking  well,  it  is  not  intended 
to  give  rules  for  a  system  of  private  conversation 
in  tlic  domestic  intercourse  of  a  family,  or  in  die 
ordinary  associations  of  business  or  of  friendship. 
There  are  doubdcss  frequent  occasions,  when  the 
means  of  oratorical  persuasion  may  be  used,  as 
seasonably  and  as  usefully  in  private,  as  in  public ; 
between  two  individuals,  as  before  a  numerous 
audience. 

Talk  logic  with  acquaintance,  that  you  have, 
And  practise  rhetoric  in  your  common  talk, 

TAM.  SHE. 

savs  one  of  the  characters  in  Shakspeare  to  his 
collegiate  friend  ;  and  the  advice  is  good.  But  it 
is  not  for  this,  that  an  artificial  system  of  eloquence 
was  ever  constructed,  or  ought  ever  to  be  taught. 
A  musician  of  taste  and  skill  will  habitually  give 
to  his  voice,  even  in  ordinary  conversation,  more 


44  GENERAL   VIEW  or  [lECT,  I. 

melodious  aiid  variegated  inflexions,  than  a  person, 
ignorant  of  his  art ;  yet  this  is  no  reason  for  him 
to  modulate  his  voice  in  conversation  by  the 
scale  of  his  gamut.  It  is  unquestionably  true, 
that  those  move  easiest,  who  have  learnt  to  dance ; 
but  this  is  no  reason  for  entering  a  room  with  the 
steps  of  a  minuet,  or  walking  the  streets  in  a  horn- 
pipe. Equally  absurd  would  it  be  to  exercise  in 
the  familiar  converse  of  life  the  practices  of  an 
orator  by  system  ;  and  we  must  be  always  under- 
stood, as  having  reference  to  public  speaking, 
when  we  define  oratory,  as  the  art  of  spealving 
weU. 

Oratory  then  is  an  art.  This  point  has  not 
been  seriously  controverted  in  modern  times ; 
though  among  the  ancients  it  was  debated  with 
great  wai-mtli  and  ingenuity.  A  more  important 
question  however,  which  has  been  agitated  in  all 
ages,  and  Mill  perh.aps  never  be  placed  altogether 
beyond  the  reach  of  controversy,  is,  whether  ora- 
tory can  be  numbered  among  the  useful  arts? 
Whether  its  tendencies  are  not  as  strong  to  the 
perversion,  as  to  the  improvement  of  men  ? 
Whether  it  has  not  more  frequently  been  made 
an  engine  of  evil,  than  of  good  to  the  world? 
Or  whether  at  best  it  is  not  one  of  those  frivolous 


LECT.  I.]   RHETORIC  AND  ORATORY.        45 

arts,  which  consists  more  in  arbitrary,  multifari- 
ous subdivisions  and  hard  words,  than  in  any  real, 
practical  utility.  The  question  is  to  you,  my 
friends,  of  so  much  importance,  that  in  justice  to 
you,  to  myself,  and  to  the  institution,  under  which 
I  address  you,  1  think  a  more  ample  consideration 
of  its  merits  proper  and  necessary.  Your  time 
and  your  talents  arc  precious,  not  only  to  your- 
selves, but  to  your  connexions,  and  to  your  coun- 
try. They  ought  therefore  not  to  be  wasted  upon 
any  trifling  or  improfitablc,  and  much  less  to  be 
mispent  upon  any  mischievous  pursuit.  In  the 
observations,  which  I  shall  now  submit  to  you,  it 
is  my  intention  to  suggest  the  peculiar  utility  of 
the  art,  in  the  situation  of  this  country,  and  adapt- 
ed to  the  circumstances,  which  may  probably  call 
upon  many  of  you  for  its  exercise,  in  the  progress 
of  your  future  lives. 

In  the  state  of  society,  which  exists  among  us, 
some  professional  occupation  is,  to  almost  every 
man  in  the  community,  the  requisition  of  necessi- 
t}-,  as  well  as  of  duty.  None  of  us  liveth  to  him- 
self;  and  as  we  live  to  our  fomilies,  by  the  several 
relations  and  employments  of  domestic  life,  to  our 
friends,  by  the  intercourse  cf  more  intimate  socie- 
ty ar.d  mutual  good  offices,    so  we  live  to  our 


46  GENERAL  VIEW  OF  [lECT.  I. 

country  and  to  mankind  in  general,  by  the  per- 
formance of  those  services,  and  by  the  discharge 
of  those  labors,  which  belong  to  the  profession  \vc 
have  chosen,  as  the  occupation  of  our  lives. 
Whatsoever  it  is  incumbent  upon  a  man  to  do, 
it  is  surely  expedient  to  do  well.  Now  of  the 
three  learned  professions,  which  more  especially 
demand  the  preparatory  discipline  of  a  learned  ed- 
ucation, there  are  two,  whose  most  important  oc- 
cupations consist  in  the  act  of  public  speaking. 
And  who  can  doubt,  but  that  in  the  sacred  desk, 
or  at  the  bar,  the  man,  who  speaks  well,  will  en- 
joy a  larger  share  of  reputation,  and  be  more 
useful  to  his  fello^v  creatures,  than  the  divine  or 
the  lawyer  of  equal  learning  and  integrity,  but  un- 
blest  with  the  talent  of  oratory  ? 

But  the  pulpit  is  especially  the  throne  of 
modern  eloquence.  There  it  is,  that  speech  is 
^iummoned  to  realize  the  fabled  wonders  of  the 
Orphean  lyre.  The  preacher  has  no  control  over 
the  will  of  liis  audience,  other  than  the  influence  of 
his  discourse.  Yet,  as  the  ambassador  of  Christ, 
it  is  his  great  and  awful  duty  to  call  sinners  to  re- 
pentance. His  only  weapon  is  the  voice;  and 
with  this  he  is  to  appal  the  guilty,  and  to  reclaim 
the  infidel ;  to  rouse  the  indifferent,  and  to  shame 


LECT.  I.J       ilHETORie  AND   ORATORY.  47 

die  scorner.     He  is  to  inflame  the  lukewarm,  to 
encourage  the  timid,  and  to  cheer  the  desponding; 
believer.     He  is  to  pour  the  healing  halm  of  con- 
solation into  the  bleeding  heart  of  sorrow,  and  to 
sooth    with    celestial  hope   the   very  agonies  of 
death.       Now  tell  me  who  it  is,  that  will  best 
possess  and  most  effectually  exercise  these  more 
than  magic  powers  ?     Who  is  it,  that  will  most 
effectually  stem   the  torrent  of  human   passions,^ 
and  calm  tlie  raging  waves  of  human  vice  and  fol- 
ly ?     Who  is  it,  tliat,  with  the  voice  of  a  Joshua, 
shall  control  the  course  of  nature  herself  in  the 
perverted  heart,  and  arrest  the  luminaries  of  wis- 
dom and  virtue  in  their  rapid  revolutions  round 
this  little   world  of  man  ?      Is  it  the  cold  and 
languid  speaker,  whose  words  fall  in  such  slug- 
gish and  drowsy  motion  from  his  lips,  that  they 
can  promote  nothing  but  the  slumbers  of  his  audi- 
tory, and  administer  opiates  to  the  body,  rather 
than  stimulants  to  the  soul  ?     Is  it  the  unlettered 
Umatic,  without  method,  without  reason ;  with  in- 
coherent raving,  and  vociferous  ignorance,  calcu- 
lated to  fit  his  hearers,  not  for  the  kingdom  of 
heaven,  but  for  a  hospital  of  lunatics  ?     Is  it  even 
the  learned,    ingenious,   and    pious    minister  of 
Christ,  who,  by  neglect  or  contempt  of  the  oratoric- 


48  GENERAL  VIEW   OF  [lECT.  I* 

al  art,  has  contracted  a  whining,  monotonous  sing- 
?jong  of  dehvery  to  exercise  the  patience  of  his 
flock,  at  tlie  expense  of  their  other  Christian 
graces  ?  Or  is  it  the  genuine  orator  of  heaven, 
with  a  heart  sincere,  upright,  and  fervent ;  a  mind 
stored  with  that  universal  knowledge,  required  as 
the  foundation  of  the  art ;  w^ith  a  genius  for  the 
invention,  a  skill  for  the  disposition,  and  a  voice 
for  the  elocution  of  every  argument  to  convince 
and  of  every  sentiment  to  persuade  ?  If  then  we 
admit,  that  the  art  of  orator}^  qualifies  the  minister 
of  the  gospel  to  perform  in  higher  perfection  the 
duties  of  his  station,  we  can  no  longer  question, 
whether  it  be  proper  for  his  cultiAation.  It  is 
more  than  proper ;  it  is  one  of  his  most  solemn 
and  indispensable  duties.     If 

Nature  never  lends 
The  smallest  scruple  ol  her  excellence, 
But  like  a  thrifty  goddess,  she  determines 
Herself  the  glory  of  a  creditor, 
Both  thanks  and  use, 

more  especially  is  the  oijligation  of  exerting  every 
talent,  of  improving  every  faculty  incumbent  upon 
him,  who  undertakes  the  task  of  instructing,   of 


LECT.  I.]       RHETORIC   AND   ORATORY.  49 

reforming,  and  of  guiding  in  the  paths  of  virtue 
and  religion,  his  fellow  mortals. 

The  practitioner  at  the  bar,  having  a  just  idea 
of  his  professional  duties,  will  consider  himself 
as  the  minister  of  justice  among  men,  and 
feel  it  his  obligation  to  maintain  and  protect 
the  rights  of  those,  who  entrust  their  affairs  to 
his  charge,  whether  they  are  rights  of  person 
or  of  property ;  whether  public  or  pri^^ate  ; 
whether  of  civil  or  of  criminal  jurisdiction. 
The  litigation  of  these  rights  in  the  courts  of 
justice  often  requires  the  exertion  of  the  most 
exalted  intellectual  powers  ;  and  it  is  by  pub- 
lic speaking  alone,  that  they  can  be  exerted. 
For  the  knowledge  of  the  law  the  learning  of 
the  closet  may  suffice  ;  for  its  application  to  the 
circumstances  of  the  individual  case,  correct 
reasoning  and  a  sound  judgment  will  be  com- 
petent. But  when  an  intricate  controversy 
must  be  unfolded  in  a  perspicuous  manner  to 
the  mind  of  the  judge,  or  a  tangled  tissue  of 
blended  facts  and  law  must  be  famiHarly  un- 
ravelled to  a  jury  ;  that  is,  at  the  very  crisis, 
when  the  contest  is  to  be  decided  by  the  au- 
thority of  the  land,  learning  and  judgment 
are   of  no  avail  to  the   client  or    his    counseU 


50  CKNERAL  VIEW  Of  [lECT.  I. 

without  the   assistance  of  an  eloquent  voice  to 
make  them  known.     Then  it  is,  that  all  the  arts 
of  the  orator  are  called  into  action,  and  that  ev- 
ery part  of  a  rhetorical  discourse  finds  its  place 
for  the  success   of  the  cause.      The   diamond 
in  the  mine  is  no  brighter,  than  the  pebble  upon 
the  beach.     From  the  hand  ofthc  lapidary  must  it 
learn  to  sparkle  in  the  solar  beam,  and  to  glitter 
in  the  imperial  crown.      The  crowd  of  clients, 
the  profits  of  practice,  and  the  honors  of  repu- 
tation, will  all  inevital^ly  fly  to  him,  w^ho  is  kno\VTi 
to  possess,  not  only  the  precious  treasures  of  le- 
gal learning,  but  the  keys,  which  alone  can  open 
them  to  the  public  eye.     Hence  if  personal  util- 
ity, the  acquisition  of  wealth,  of  honor,  and  of 
fame,  is  the  pursuit  of  the  lawyer,  the  impulse 
of  eloquence  can  alone  speed  him  in  his  course. 
If  relative   utility,  the  faculty  of  discharging  in 
the  utmost  perfection  the  duties  of  his  station, 
and  the  means  of  being  most  serviceable  to  his 
fellow  creatures,  is  the  nobler  object  of  his  ambi- 
tion, still  he  can  soar  to  that  elevated  aim  only 
upon  the  pinions  of  eloquence. 

But  besides  these  two  professions,  of  which 
oratory  may  be  called  the  vital  principle,  a  fi*ee 
republic,  like  that,  in  which  an  indulgent  provi- 


LECT.  I.]       RHETORIC   AND   ORATORY.  51 

dence  has  cast  our  lot,  bestows  importance  up- 
on the  powers  of  eloquence,  to  every  class 
and  description  of  citizens.  An  estimate  of 
this,  and  of  some  sjoecific  objections  against 
the  art,  will  form  the  subject  of  my  next 
lecture. 


LECTURE  II. 

OBJECTIONS  AGAINST  ELOQUENCE  CONSIDERED. 


WE  have  hitherto  considered  the  importance 
and  utility  of  the  oratorical  art,  only  \\ith  regard 
to  its  influence  upon  the  private  relations  of  life ; 
and  pointed  out  the  inducements,  which  recom- 
mend its  cultivation  to  the  lawyer  and  the  divine. 
These  considerations  ha\c  their  weight  in  all 
civilized  countries,  fovorcd  a\  ith  the  light  of  the 
gospel,  and  enjoying  a  regular  administration 
of  government.  Under  all  the  forms  of  pol- 
ity, prevailing  among  the  European  nations, 
considerable  scope  is  allowed  to  the  eloquence  of 
the  bar  and  of  the  pulpit ;  under  all,  the  induce- 
ments I  have  suggested  for  coveting  these  splen- 
did and  useful  talents  must  have  their  force. 
There  are  others,  which,  if  not  exclusively  appli- 
cable to  our  nati^-e  country,  and  our  present  state 
of  society,  are  at  least  of  more  than  ordinary  magni- 
tujie  to  us.     But  before  I  enter  upon  a  survey  of 


54  OBJECTIONS   AGAINST       [lECT.  II. 

these  local  and  occasional  objects,  which  give  so 
much ad\entltious  cumulation  to  the  arguments  of 
universal  application  in  favor  of  eloquence,  it  may 
be  proper  to  examine  witli  candor  the  olDJections, 
which  often  have  been  and  still  are  occasionally 
urged  against  it. 

These  objections  are  thi-ee.  First,  that  rhetor- 
ic is  a  pedantic  science,  overcharged  with  scho- 
lastic subtleties,  and  innumerable  divisions  and 
subdivisions,  burdensome  to  the  memory,  op- 
pressive to  genius,  and  never  applicable  to  any 
valuable  purpose  in  the  business  of  the  world. 
Second,  that  it  is  a  frivolous  science,  substituting 
childish  declamation  instead  of  manly  sense,  and 
adapted  rather  to  the  pageantry  of  a  public  festi- 
val, than  to  the  sober  concerns  of  real  life.  And 
third,  that  it  is  a  pernicious  science  ;  tlie  purpose 
of  which  is  to  mislead  the  judgment  by  fascinat- 
ing the  imagination.  That  its  tendencies  are  to 
subject  the  reason  of  men  to  the  control  of  their 
passions ;  to  pervert  private  justice,  and  to  des- 
troy public  liberty.  These  are  formidable  ob- 
jections, and  unless  a  sound  and  satisfactory  an- 
swer can  be  given  to  them  all,  both  your  time 
and  mine,  my  friends,  is  at  this  moment  very  ill 
employed,  and   the  call  I  am   obliged  to  make 


LfiCTi  II.]        ELOQUENCE   CONSIDERED.  55 

Upon  your  attention  is  a  trespass  upon  something 
more  than  your  patience. 

Let  me  first  remark,  that  tlie  last  of  these  diffi- 
culties is  not  barely  at  variance  with,  but  in  direct 
hostility  to  the  other  two.  If  rhetoric  be  a  pe- 
dantic science,  consisting  of  nothing  but  a  tedi- 
ous and  affected  enumeration  of  the  figures  of 
speech,  or  if  it  be  a  frivolous  science,  teaching 
only  the  process  of  beating  up  a  frothy  declama- 
tion into  seeming  consistency,  at  least  it  cannot 
be  that  deadly  weapon,  the  possession  of  which  is 
so  pernicious,  that  the  affection  of  a  parent,  studi- 
ous of  the  learning  and  virtue  of  his  son,  dares  not 
entrust  it  to  his  hand.  If  rhetoric  be  no  more 
than  the  Babylonish  dialect  of  the  schools,  if  ora- 
tory be  no  more  than  tlie  sounding  emptiness  of  the 
scholar ,they  are  at  least  not  those  dangerous  and 
destructive  engines,  which  pollute  the  fountains  of 
justice,  and  batter  down  the  liberties  of  nations. 
These  objections  are  still  more  at  strife  with  each 
other,  than  with  the  science,  against  i\  hich  they 
are  pointed.  Were  they  urged  by  one  and  the 
same  disputant,  we  might  be  content  to  array 
them  against  each  otlier.  "We  might  oppose  the 
argument  of  insignificance  against  the  argument 
of  danger;  and  enjoy  the  triumph  of  beholding  our 


\ 


56  OBJECTIONS   AGAINST  [lECT.  Hi 

adversary  refute  himself.  But  inasmuch  as  they 
spring  from  different  sources,  they  are  entitled  to 
a  distinct  consideration.  From  their  mutual  op- 
position, the  only  conclusive  inference  we  can 
draw  against  them  is,  that  they  cannot  all  be 
well  founded.  Let  us  endeavour  to  prove  the 
same  against  each  of  them  separately,  begin- 
ning with  those,  which  affect  only  the  useful- 
ness, and  not  the  moral  character  of  our  pro- 
fession. 

The  first  assault  then,  which  we  are  called 
upon  to  repel,  comes  from  the  shaft  of  wit ;  al- 
ways a  formidable,  but  not  always  a  fair  antag- 
onist. A  poet  of  real  genius  and  original  humor, 
in  a  couplet,  which  goes  farther  to  discredit 
all  systems  of  rhetoTic,  than  volumes  of  sober 
argument  can  effect  in  promoting  them,  has 
told  the  world,  that 

All  a  rhetorician's  rules 

Teach  nothing  but  to  name  his  tools. 

But  happily  the  doctrine,  that  ridicule  is  the  test 
of  truth,  has  never  obtained  the  assent  of  the 
rational  part  of  mankind.  Wit,  like  the  ancient 
Parthian,  flies  while  it  fights ;  or  like  the  modem 


LECT.  II.]       ELOqUENCE   CONSIDERED.  57 

Indian,   shoots  from   behind  trees  and   hedges. 
The    arrow    comes    winged    from  an   irwisible 
hand.     It  rankles  in  your  side,  and  you  look  in 
vain  for  the  archer.      Wit  is  the  unjust  judge, 
who  often  decides  wrong  ;   and  even  when  right, 
often  from  a  wrong  motive.     From  his  decisions 
however,  after  paying  the  forfeit,  there  is  always 
an  appeal  to  the  more  even  balance  of  common 
sense.     On  this  review  wc  shall  find  the  poet's 
position  not  exactly  conformable   to  truth;  and 
even  so  far  as  true,  by  no  means  decisive  against 
the  study  of  the  science.     For  what  can  be  more 
necessary  to  the  artist,  than  to  know  the  names, 
as  well  as  the  uses  of  his  tools  ?     Rhetoric  alone 
can  never  constitute  an  orator.      No  human  art 
can  be  acquired  by  the  mere  knowledge  of  the 
principles,  upon  which  it  is  founded.      But  the 
artist,  who  understands  its  principles,  will  exer- 
cise his  art  in  the  highest  perfection.     The   pro- 
foundest  study  of  the  writers  upon  architecture, 
the  most  laborious  contemplation  of  its  magnifi- 
cent monuments  will  never  make  a  mason.     But 
the  mason,  thoroughly  acquainted  with  the  ^vi'iters, 
and  familiar  to  the  construction  of  those  monu- 
ments, v^dll  surely  be  an  abler  artist,  than  the  mere 

mechanic,  ignorant  of  the  mvsteries  of  his  trade, 
8 


58  OBJECTIONS   AGAINST  [lECT.  IL. 

and  even  of  the  names  of  his  tools.  A  celebrated 
French  comic  writer,  Molier^,  has  represented 
one  of  his  characters,,  learning  with  great  astonish- 
ment and  self-admiration,  at  the  age  of  forty,  that 
lie  had  been  all  his  life  time  speaking  prose  with- 
out knowing  it.  And  this  bright  discovery  comes 
from  the  information  he  then  first  receives  from 
his  teacher  of  grammar,  that  whatsoever  is  not 
prose  is  verse,  and  whatsoever  is  not  verse  is 
prose. 

But  the  names  of  the  rhetorician's  rules  are 
not  the  only  objects  of  his  precepts.  They  ai*e 
not  even  essential  to  the  science.  Figurative  and 
ornamented  language  indeed  is  one  of  the  impor- 
tant properties  of  oratory,  and  when  the  art  came 
to  be  reduced  into  a  system  among  the  ancient 
Greeks,  some  of  the  subordinate  writers,  unable 
to  produce  any  thing  of  their  own  upon  the  gener- 
al subject,  exercised  their  subtlety  to  discrimin- 
ate, and  their  ingenuity  to  name  the  innumerably 
variety  of  forms,  in  which  language  may  be  divert- 
ed from  the  direct  into  the  figurative  channel. 
Pursuing  this  object  with  more  penetration  than 
discernment,  they  ransacked  all  their  celebrated 
authors  for  figures  of  speech,  to  give  them  names; 
and  often  finding  in  their  search  some  incorrect 


LEC'f.  II.]       ELOqUENCE   CONSIDERED.  59 

expression,  which  the  inattention  of  the  writer  had 
overlooked,  they  conchided  it  was  a  figure  of 
speech,  because  it  was  not  conformable  to  gram- 
matical construction ;  and  very  gravely  turning  a 
blunder  into  a  trope,  invested  it  with  the  dignity 
of  a  learned  name.  A  succession  of  these  rhe- 
torical nomenclators  were  continually  improving 
upon  one  another,  until  the  catalogue  of  figures 
grew  to  a  lexicon,  and  the  natural  shape  of  rhetoric 
was  distended  to  a  dropsy. 

This  excessive  importance,  given  to  one  of  the 
branches  of  the  science,  led  to  the  absurd  notion, 
that  all  rlietoric  was  comprised  in- the  denomina- 
tion of  figurative  expressions,  and  finally  provoked 
the  lash  of  Butler's  ridicule.     But  he  must  have  a 
partial  and  contracted  idea  indeed  of  rhetoric,  who 
can  believe,  that  by  the  art  of  pei'suasion  is  meant 
no  more  than  the  art  of  distinguishing  between  a 
metonymy  and  a   metaphor,   or  of  settling  the 
boundary  between  synecdoche  and  antonomasia. 
So  far  is  this  from  being  true,  that  Aristotle,  tlie 
great  father  of  tlie  science,  though  he  treats  in 
general  terms  of  metaphorical  language,  bestows 
very  little  consideration  upon  it,  and  cautions  the 
orator,  perhaps  too  rigorously,  ag-ainst  its   use. 
Cicero,  though  from  the  natural  turn  of  his  gen- 


60  OBJECTIONS  AGAINST  [lECT.  II. 

ius  more  liberal  of  these  seductive  graces,  allows 
them  only  a  very  modeiate  station  in  his  estimate 
of  the  art ;  and  Quinctilian  appropriates  to  them 
only  part  of  two,  out  of  his  twelve  books  of  in- 
stitutes. 

The  idea,  that  the  purpose  of  rhetoric  is  onl} 
to  teach  the  art  of  making  and.  delivering  a  holi- 
day declamation,  proceeds  from  a  view  of  the 
subject  equally  erroneous  and  superficial.  Were 
this  its  only  or  even  its  principal  object,  its  acqui- 
sition might  rationally  occupy  a  few  moments  of 
your  leisure,  but  could  not  claim  that  assiduous 
study  and  persevering  application,  without  which 
no  man  will  ever  be  an  orator.  It  would  stand  in 
the  rank  of  elegant  accomplishments,  but  could 
not  aspire  to  that  of  useful  talents.  Perhaps  one 
of  the  causes  of  this  mistaken  estimate  of  the  art  is 
the  usual  process,  by  which  it  is  learnt.  The 
exercises  of  the  student  are  necessarily  confined 
to  this  lowest  department  of  the  science.  Your 
weekly  declamation^,  your  occasional  themes,  and 
forensic  disputeSjandthe  dialogues,conferences,  an4 
orations  of  the  public  exhibitions,  from  the  nature 
of  tilings,  must  relate  merely  to  speculative  sub- 
jects. Here  is  no  issue  for  trial,  in  which  the  life 
or  fortune  of  an  individual  may  be   involved, 


lECT.  I.]         ELOQUENCE  CONSIDERED.  61 

Here  is  no  vote  to  be  taken,  upon  which  the  des- 
tinies of  a  nation  may  be  suspended.  Here  is  no 
immortal  soul,  whose  future  blessedness  or  mise- 
ry may  hinge  upon  your  powers  of  eloquence  to 
carry  conviction  to  the  heart.  But  here  it  is,  that 
you  must  prepare  yourselves  to  act  your  part  in 
those  great  realities  of  life.  To  consider  the  les- 
sons or  the  practices,  by  wliich  the  art  of  oratory 
can  be  learnt,  as  the  substance  of  the  art  itself,  is 
to  mistake  the  means  for  the  end.  It  is  to  meas- 
ure the  military  merits  of  a  general  by  the  gold 
threads  of  his  epaulette,  or  to  appreciate  the  valor 
of  the  soldier  by  the  burning  of  powder  upon  a 
parade.  The  eloquence  of  the  college  is  like  the 
(discipline  of  a  review.  The  ait  of  war,  we  are 
all  sensible,  docs  not  consist  in  the  manoeuvres  of 
a  training  day  ;  nor  the  steadfastness  of  the  soldier 
at  the  hour  of  battle,  in  the  drilling  of  his  orderly 
Serjeant.  Yet  the  superior  excellence  of  the 
veteran  army  is  exemplified  in  nothing  more  forci- 
bly, than  in  the  perfection  of  its  discipline.  It  is  ^ 
in  the  heat  of  action,  upon  the  field  of  blood,  that 
the  fortune  of  the  day  may  be  decided  by  the  ex- 
actness of  the  manual  exercise ;  and  the  art  of  dis- 
playing a  column,  or  directing  a  charge,  may  turn 
the  balance  of  victory  and  change  the  history  of 


62  OBJECTIONS   AGAINST  [lECT.  II. 

the  world.     The  application  of  tl:ese  observntions 
is  as  direct  to  the  art  of  oratory,  as  to  that  of  war. 
The  exercises,  to  which  you  are  here  accustomed, 
are  not  intended  merely  for  the  display  of  the  tal- 
ents, you  have  ac<iuired.     They  are  instruments, 
put  into  your  liands  for  future  use.     Their  object 
is  not  barely  to  prepare  you  for  the  composition 
and  delivery  of  an  oration  to  amuse  an  idle  hour 
on  some  public  anniversary.     It  is  to  give  you  a 
clue  for  the  labyrinth  of  legislation  in  the  public 
councils  ;    a  spear  for  the  conflict  of  judicial  war 
in  the  public  tribunals  ;    a  sword  for  the  field  of 
religious  and  moral  victory  in  the  pulpit. 

In  the  endea^^our  to  refute  these  petty  cavils 
against  rhetoric,  which  have  no  higher  foundation, 
than  a  superficial  misconception  of  its  real  charac- 
ter and  object,  I  have  perhaps  consumed  too  much 
of  your  time.  A  more  serious  obstacle  remains 
to  be  removed.  An  obstacle,  ai'ising,  not  from  a 
mistaken  estimate  of  its  value,  but  from  too  keen  a 
sense  of  its  abuses.  An  objection,  which  admits, 
nay,  exaggerates  the  immensity  of  its  powers, 
but  harps  upon  their  perversion  to  evil  endsr 
which  beholds  in  oratory,  not  the  sovereign,  but 
the  usurper  of  the  soul ;  wliich,  far  from  exposing 


LECT.  II.]       ELOq^UENCE   CONSIDERED.  63 

the  science  to  the  sneer  of  contempt,  aims  at  in- 
flaming against  it  the  rancour  of  jealousy. 

Eloquence,  we  are  told  by  these  eloquent  de- 
tracters,  is  the  purveyor  of  fraud,  and  the  pander  of 
delusion.  Her  tongue  drops  manna,  but  to  make 
the  worse  appear  the  better  reason ;  to  perplex  and 
dash  maturest  counsels.  She  fills  the  trump  of 
glory  with  the  venal  blast  of  adulation,  and  binds 
the  \vreath  of  honor  around  the  brows  of  infamy. 
Her  voice  is  ever  ready  to  rescue  the  culprit  from 
punishment,  and  to  turn  the  bolt  of  public  ven- 
geance upon  innocence.  Upon  every  breeze  her 
breath  wings  the  pestilence  of  sedition,  or  kindles 
the  flames  of  unextinguishable  war.      Her  most 

s 

splendid  victories  are  but  trium.phs  over  reason, 
and  the  basis  of  her  temple  is  erected  upon  the  ru- 
ins of  truth. 

To  this  tempest  of  inculpation  what  reply  can 
we  oppose  ?  If  we  dispute  the  correctness  of  the 
assertions,  our  adversaries  appeal  with  confidence 
to  the  testimony  of  historical  llict.  If  we  assure 
them  upon  the  word  of  Cicero  and  Quinctilian, 
that  none  but  a  good  man  can  possibly  be  an  ora- 
tor, they  disconcert  us  by  calling  for  our  examples 
of  orators,  who  have  been  good  men. 


64  OBJECTIONS  AGAINST  [lECT.  Il* 

Let  us  then  tell  them,  that  their  objection  in 
this  instance  is  rather  against  the  constitution  of 
human  nature,  the  dispensations  of  Providence,  and 
the  moral  government  of  the  universe,  than  against 
rhetoric  and  oratory.  It  applies  with  equal  force 
against  every  faculty,  which  exalts  the  human 
character,  virtue  alone  excepted.  Strength  of 
body,  vigor  of  mind,  beauty,  valor,  genius,  what- 
ever we  admire  and  love  in  the  character  of  man  ; 
how  often  are  they  pei^verted  to  his  shame  and 
con-uption !  It  applies  with  equal  force  against  the 
laws  of  physical  nature.  Observe  the  phenomena 
of  the  universe,  in  which  we  dwell.  The  very 
beams  of  that  glorious  sun,  the  source  of  genial 
heat,  of  heavenly  light,  of  vegetable  growth,  and 
of  animal  life,  how  often  does  their  radiance  blind 
the  eyes,  and  their  fervor  parch  the  plains  !  How 
often  do  they  shed  pernicious  plagues,  and  kindle 
consuming  fires !  The  very  atmosphere  we 
breathe,  unless  perpetually  purified  by  the  acces- 
sion of  oxygen,  is  it  not  the  most  deadly  poison  ? 
Virtue,  my  young  friends,  is  the  oxygen,  the  vital 
air  of  the  moral  world.  Immutable  and  incorrupt- 
ible itself,  like  that  being,  of  whom  it  is  the  purest 
emanation,  in  proportion  as  it  intenningles  with 
and  pervades  every  other  particle  of.  intellectual 


LECT.  II.]  ELOC^UENCE    CONSIDERED.  65 

nature,  it  inspires  the  salutiferous  gale,  the  principle 
of  life,  and  healtli,  and  happiness.  But  this  is  the 
peculiar  privilege  of  virtue.  Like  all  the  other 
gifts  of  Providence,  eloquence  is,  according  to  the 
manner,  in  which  it  is  applied,  a  blessing  or  a 
curse  ;  the  pest  of  nations,  or  the  benefactress  of 
human  kind. 

Here  then  we  might  rest  our  defence.  Wc 
might  rely  on  the  trite  and  undisputed  maxim,  that 
arguments,  drawn  from  the  abuse  of  any  thing, 
are  not  admissible  against  its  use.  But  we  must 
proceed  one  step  further,  and  say,  that  in  this  case 
the  argument  from  the  abuse  is  conclusive  in  fa- 
vor of  the  use.  Since  eloquence  is  in  itself  so 
powerful  a  weapon,  and  since  by  the  depravity  of 
mankind  this  weapon  must,  and  often  will  be  bran- 
dished for  guilty  purposes,  its  exercise,  with  equal 
or  superior  skill,  becomes  but  the  more  indispen- 
sable to  the  cause  of  virtue.  To  forbid  the  sin- 
cere cliristian,  die  honest  advocate,  the  genuine 
patriot,  the  practice  of  oratorical  arts,  would  be 
like  a  modem  nation,  which  should  deny  to  itself 
the  use  of  gunpowder,  and  march,  with  nothing 
but  bows  and  aiTows,  to  meet  the  thunder  of  an 
invader's  artillery.  If  the  venal  orators  of  Athens 
would  have  sold  their  country  to  the  crafty  tyrant 


66  OBJECTIONS  AGAINST  [lECT.  Hi. 

of  Macedon,  what  could  baffle  tlieir  detested  bar- 
gains, but  the  incorruptible  eloquence  of  Demos- 
thenes ?  If  the  incestuous  Clodius  and  the  incen- 
diar}'  Catiline  had  eloquence  enough  for  the  des. 
truction  of  imperial  Rome,  what  but  the  immortal 
voice  of  Cicero  could  have  operated  her  salvation  ? 
Or  to  bring  the  issue  closer  home  to  your  own 
hearts,  when  would  you  so  anxiously  desire,  and 
so  eagerly  hail  this  irresistible  power  of  v/ords,  as 
at  the  very  moment  after  hearing  it  perverted  by 
cruelty,  hypocrisy,  or  infidelity,  for  the  purposes 
of  violence  or  of  fraud  ? 

In  these  objections  then,  the  most  plausible  of 
those,  which  ever  have  been  advanced  against 
rhetoric  and  oratory,  there  is  nothing,  which  ought 
to  deter  an  honest  and  a  generous  mind  from  their 
assiduous  cultivation.  Of  the  arguments  I  have 
urged  to  convince  you,  that  the  study  is  at  once 
useful  and  honorable,  your  own  minds  will  judge. 
You  will  perhaps  think,  that  I  have  dwelt  with 
more  earnestness,  than  the  occasion  required,  upon 
topics,  concerning  which  your  heaits  were  alreadj-; 
with  me.  That  I  have  been  over  anxious  in  de- 
monstrating w^hat  was  to  you  before  sufficiently 
proved.  That,  under  the  blaze  of  a  meridian  sun, 
I  ha-^^e  been  sweating  with  the  toU  of  making  day- 


LECT.  II.3       ELOQUENCE   CONSIDERED.  6V 

light  visible  to  your  eyes.  And  is  it  truly  so  ? 
Are  you  convinced  beyond  a  doubt,  that  the  pow- 
ers of  eloquence  are  a  wise,  an  honorable,  a  virtu- 
ous pursuit  ?  A  pursuit,  to  which  justice,  patri- 
otism, and  piety,  with  equal  energy  stimulate 
your  souls  ?  Then  go  with  me  but  one  step  fur- 
ther ;  draw  with  me  the  only  valuable  inference, 
which  can  result  from  this  long  dissertation  ;  the 
practical  inference,  which  alone  can  make  it  of 
any  use  to  you.  Invert  the  advice  of  Timotheus 
to  Alexander,  and  say  to  yourselves, 

If  the  world  be  worth  enjoying. 

Think  !    Oh  !    think  it  worth  thy  v/inning. 

I  will  conclude  with  urging  upon  your  re- 
flections the  last  great  consideration,  which  I 
mentioned,  as  giving  its  keenest  edge  to  the 
.'irgument  for  de^'Oting  every  faculty  of  the  mind 
to  the  acquisition  of  eloquence  ;*a  consideration, 
:u-ising  from  the  pecuHar  situation  and  circum- 
stances of  our  o^vn  country,  and  naturally  con- 
necting my  present  subject,  the  vindication  of 
the  science,  with  that,  which  will  next  claim 
your  attention  ;    I  mean  its  origin  and  history. 

Should  a  philosophical  theorist,  reasoning  a 
priori,  undertake  to  point  out  the  state  of  things, 


68  OBJECTIONS   AGAINST         [lECT.  II» 

and  of  human  society,  which  must  naturally  pro- 
duce the  highest  exertions  of  the  power  of  speech, 
he  would  recur  to  those  important  particulars, 
which  actually  existed  in  the  Grecian  common- 
wealths. The  most  strenuous  energies  of  the 
human  mind,  would  he  say,  are  always  employ- 
ed, where  they  are  instigated  by  the  stimulus 
of  the  highest  rewards.  The  art  of  speaking 
must  be  most  eagerly  sought,  where  it  is  found 
to  be  most  useful.  It  must  be  most  useful, 
where  it  is  capaJDle  of  producing  tlie  greatest 
effects ;  and  that  can  be  in  no  other  state  of 
things,  than  where  the  power  of  persuasion 
operates  upon  the  will,  and  prompts  the  actions 
of  otlier  men.  The  only  birth  place  of  clo- 
f[uence  therefore  must  be  a  free  state.  Under 
ai'bitrary  governments,  where  the  lot  is  cast 
upon  one  man  to  command,  and  upon  all  the 
rest  to  obey  ;  where  the  despot,  like  the  Roman 
centurion,  has  only  to  say  to  one  man,  go,  and 
he  goeth,  and  to  another,  come,  and  he  com- 
eth ;  persuasion  is  of  no  avil.  Between  au- 
thority and  obedience  there  can  be  no  delibera- 
tion ;  and  wheresoever  submission  is  the  prin- 
ciple of  government  in  a  nation,  eloquence  can 
never  arise.     Eloquence  is  the  child  of  liberty, 


LECT.  II.]        ELOqUENCE   CONSIDERED.  69 

juid  can  descend  from  no  other  stock.  And 
where  will  she  find  her  most  instructive  school  ? 
Will  it  not  be  in  a  countrj^,  where  the  same 
spirit  of  liberty,  which  marks  the  relations 
between  the  individuals  of  the  same  commu- 
nity, is  diffused  ovfer  those  more  complicated 
and  important  relations  between  different  com- 
munities ?  Where  the  independence  of  the 
man  is  corroborated  and  iuA'igorated  by  the 
independence  of  the  state  ?  Where  the  same 
power  of  persuasion,  which  influences  the  will 
of  the  citizens  at  home,  has  the  means  of  ope- 
rating upon  the  will  and  tlie  conduct  of  sove- 
reign societies  ?  Should  it  happen  then,  that 
a  number  of  independent  communities,  founded 
upon  the  principles  of  civil  and  political  lib- 
erty, were  so  reciprocally  situated,  as  to  have 
a  great  and  continual  intercourse  with  each 
other,  and  many  momentous  common  interests, 
occasional  as  well  as  permanent,  there  above 
all  others  will  be  the  spot,  where  eloquence  will 
spring  to  light;  will  flourish;  will  rise  to  the  high- 
est perfection,  of  which  human  art  or  science  is 
susceptible. 

The  experience  of  mankind  has  proved  ex- 
actly   confoiTnable    to    this    theor\-.      The  Grc- 


70  OBJECTIONS  AGAINST  [lECT.1I. 

cian  commonwealths  fuinish  the  earliest  ex- 
amples in  history  of  confederated  states  with 
free  governments ;  and  there  also  tlie  art  of 
oratory  was  first  practised,  the  science  of  rhet- 
oric first  invented;  and  both  were  raised  to  a 
pitch  of  unrivalled  excellence  and  glory. 

From  this  powerful  concurrence  of  philo- 
sophical speculation  with  liistorical  proof,  there 
are  several  important  inferences,  which  ought 
to  be  pressed  M'ith  peculiar  energ)"-  upon  the 
consideration  of  all  youthful  Americans  ;  and 
more  especially  of  those,  who  are  distinguished 
by  the  liberal  discipline  of  a  classical  educa- 
tion, and  enjoy  the  advantages  of  intellectual 
cultivation.  They  cannot  fail  to  remark,  tiiat 
their  own  nation  is  at  this  time  precisely  un- 
der the  same  circumstances,  which  were  so 
propitious  to  the  advancement  of  rhetoric  and 
oratory  among  the  Greeks.  Like  them,  we 
are  divided  into  a  number  of  separate  common- 
wealths, all  founded  upon  the  principles  of  the 
most  enlarged  sociil  and  civil  liberty.  Like 
them,  we  iire  united  in  certain  great  national 
interests,  and  connected  by  a  confederation,  dif- 
fering indeed  in  many  essential  particulars 
from  theirs,  but  perhaps  in  a  still  higher  degree 


LECT.  II.]       ELOqUENCE  CONSIDERED.  73? 

favorable  to  the  influence  and  exertion  of  elo- 
quence. Our  institutions,  from  the  smallest 
municipal  associations  to  the  great  national 
bond,  which  links  this  continent  in  union, 
are  republican.  Their  vital  principle  is  lib- 
erty. Persuaspn,  or  the  influence  of  reason 
and  of  feeling,  is  the  great  if  not  the  only  in- 
strument, whose  operation  can  affect  the  acts 
of  all  our  corporate  bodies ;  of  towns,  cities, 
counties,  states,  and  of  the  whole  confederated 
empire.  Here  then  eloquence  is  recommended 
by  the  most  elevated  usefulness,  and  encourag- 
ed by  the  promise  of  the  most  precious  re- 
wards. 

Finally,  let  us  observe  how  much  it  tends 
to  exalt  and  ennoble  our  ideas  of  tliis  art,  to 
find  it  both  in  speculation  and  experience, 
thus  grappled,  as  with  hooks  of  steel,  to  the 
soul  of  liberty.  So  deai-,  and  so  justly  dear 
to  us  are  the  blessings  of  freedom,  that  if  no 
other  advantage  could  be  ascribed  to  the  pow- 
ers of  speech,  than  that  they  are  her  inseparable 
companions,  that  alone  would  l3e  an  unanswer- 
able argument  for  us  to  cherish  them  with 
more  than  a  mother's  affection.  Let  then  the 
frosty  rigor  of  the  logician  tell  you,  that  eloquence 


72  OBJECTIONS   &.C.  [lECT.  II, 

is  an  insidious  appeal  to  the  passions  of  men.  Let 
the  ghastly  form  of  despotism  groan  from  his 
hollow  lungs  and  bloodless  heart,  that  eloquence 
is  the  instrument  of  turbulence  and  the  weapon 
of  faction.  Nay,  let  the  severe  and  honest 
moralist  himself  pronounce  in  the  dream  of 
abstraction,  that  truth  and  virtue  need  not  the 
aid  of  foreign  ornament.  Answer  ;  silence 
them  all.  Answer  ;  silence  tliem  forever,  by 
recurring  to  this  great  and  overpowering  truth. 
Say,  that  by  the  eternal  constitution  of  things 
it  was  ordained,  that  liberty  should  be  the  pa- 
rent of  eloquence  ;  that  eloquence  should  be  the 
last  stay  and  support  of  liberty  ;  that  with  her 
she  is  ever  destined  to  live,  to  flourish,  and  to 
die.  Call  up  the  shades  of  Demosthenes  and 
Cicero  to  vouch  your  words  ;  point  to  their 
immortal  works,  and  say,  these  are  not  only  the 
sublimest  strains  of  oratory,  that  ever  issued  from 
the  uninspired  lips  of  mortal  men ;  they  are  at 
the  same  time  the  expiring  accents  of  liberty,  in 
the  nations,  which  have  shed  the  brightest  lustre 
on  the  name  of  man. 


LECTURE  III. 


ORIGIN  OF  ORATORY. 


!••«(.  1 


HAVING  endeavoured  in  my  former  lectures 
to  define  with  precision  the  objects,  upon  which  I 
am  in  future  to  discourse,  and  attempted  to  vindi- 
cate their  utiUty,  I  shall  now  proceed  to  give  you 
some  account  of  their  liistory  ;  in  doing  which  I 
shall,  for  the  sake  of  perspicuity,  continue  to  pre- 
serve the  distinction,  which  I  first  laid  down, 
between  the  science  of  rhetoric  and  the  art  of 
oratory. 

The  origin  of  oratory  has  undoubtedly  the 
priority  in  point  of  time.  Such  must  obvious- 
ly be  the  case  with  all  the  arts.  Many  a  house 
must  have  been  built,  before  a  system  of  architect- 
ure could  be  formed ;  many  a  poem  composed,  be 
10 


74  ORIGIN  OF  ORATORY.    [lECT.  III.. 

fore  Lui  art  of  poclry  could  be  written.     The  prac- 
tice must  in  the  nature  of  tilings  precede  the  theo- 
ry.     All  didactic  treatises  must  consist  of  rules, 
resulting  from  experience ;  and  that  experience  can 
have  no  foundation,  otlier  than  previous  practice. 
Now  the  practice  of  oratory  must  in  all  probabili- 
ty be  coeval  with  the  faculty  of  speech.      Philo- 
sophical inquirers  into  the  origin  of  language  have, 
with  some  appearance  of  reason,  affirmed,  that  the 
first  sounds,  which  men  uttered,  must  have  been 
exclamations,  prompted  by  some  pressing  want 
or  vehement  passion.     These,  by  the  constitution 
of  human  nature,  would  be  best  calculated  to  ex- 
cite the  first  sympatliies  of  the  fellow- savage,  and 
thus  afibrd  the  first  instance  of  an  influence,  exer- 
cised by  man  over  man,  through  the  medium  of 
speecli.     The  chai'acter,  derived  from  this  origin- 
al, it  has  preserved  thi'ough  all  its  progress,  and  to 
a  certain  degree  must  forever  retain  ;  so  that  even 
at  this  day  eloquence  and  the  language  of  passion 
are  sometimes  used,  as  synonymous  terms.     But 
however  the  practice  of  oratory  may  ha^^e  existed 
in  the  early  ages  of  tlie  world,  and  among  those 
civilized  nations,  whose  career  of  splendor  preced- 
ed that  of  the  Grecian  states,  we  have  no  monu- 
ments, either  written  or  traditionary,  from  which 


LECr.  III. 3         ORIGIN   or   ORATORY.  75 

we  can  infer,  that  the  art  of  speaking  was  ever  re- 
diiced  into  a  system,  or  used  for  the  purposes,  to 
which  eloquence  has  since  been  employed.  In 
the  sacred  scriptures  indeed  we  have  numerous 
examples  of  occasions,  upon  which  the  powers  of 
oratory  were  exercised,  and  many  specimens  of 
the  sublimest  eloquence.  But  these  wctg  of  a 
peculiar  nature,  arising  from  the  interpositions  of 
providence  in  the  history  and  affairs  of  the  Jewish 
people.  There  we  learn,  that  the  faculty  of  speech 
was  among  the  special  powers,  bestowed  by  imme- 
diate communication  of  the  Creator  to  our  first 
parents.  Thus  if  the  first  cries  af  passion  were 
instigated  by  physical  nature,  the  first  accents  of 
reason  were  suggested  by  the  father  of  spirits. 
But  of  the  history  of  profane  eloquence  there  is  no 
trace  or  record  remaining  earlier,  than  the  flourish- 
ing periods  of  the  Grecian  states. 

There  were  three  circumstances  in  their  con- 
stitution, which  concurred  to  produce  their  ex- 
traordinary attachment  to  this  art,  and  with  it  to  so 
many  others,  which  have  immorUilized  their  fame. 
Their  origin  is  involved  in  such  a  tissue  of  fables, 
tnat  it  is  impossible  to  rely  upon  any  particulars  of 
their  eaily  history.  Thus  much  howe^•er  may  be 
considered  as  certain,  that  the  Assyrian,  Persian, 


76  ORIGIN  or  ORATORY.    [lECI.  III. 

and  Eg}^ptian  states,  whose  national  existence  was 
earlier  than  theirs,  were  all  single  governments, 
and  all  unlimited  monarchies  ;  while  from  the  re- 
motest ages  Greece  was  divided  into  a  number  of 
separate  sovereignties,  each  independent  of  all  the 
others,  but  all  occasionally  connected  together  up- 
on certain  objects  and  enteq^rizes,  which  concern- 
ed their  common  interests.  Such  were  the  expe- 
dition of  the  Argonauts  under  tlie  conduct  of  Ja- 
son ;  the  war  of  Thebes  by  the  confederacy  of 
seven  princes  against  Eteocles ;  and  finally  the  Tro- 
jan war  ;  that  war,  the  memory  of  which  the  ener- 
gies of  one  poor,  blind,  vagrant  poet  have  rendered 
as  imperishable,  as  the  human  mind. 

With  all  their  great  and  shining  qualities,  the 
Greeks  were  ever  notorious  for  a  propensity  to  the 
marv'^ellous ;  and  a  Roman  poet  has  applied  to  the 
ivliole  nation  an  epithet,  which  St.  Paul  tells  us 
had  been  justly  appropriated  to  the  Cretans. 
Thus,  of  these  three  great  expeditions,  the  causes, 
and  almost  all  the  story,  as  related  by  the  Greeks, 
'were  undoubtedly  fabulous.  Some  ingenious 
niodern  writers  have  taken  occasion  from  these 
manifest  falsehoods  of  detail,  to  raise  doubts  con- 
cerning the  reality  of  the  whole  history,  and  even 
to  contend,  that  no  such  city  as  Troy  ever  existed. 


LECTr  III.]         ORIGIN   OF   ORATORY.  77 

But  the  great  outlines  of  the  naiTative  are  so  con- 
nected with  unquestionable  events,  that  it  requires 
at  least  as  large  a  share  of  credulity  to  believe  in 
the  accuracy  of  the  modern  systems,  as  in  the 
fidelity  of  the  ancient  tales.  For  my  own  part  I 
find  it  as  hard  to  credit,  that  there  never  was  such 
a  city  as  Troy,  as  that  it  was  built  by  the  hands  of 
Neptune  and  iipollo,  or  destroyed  by  the  resent- 
ments of  Juno.  The  link  in  the  chain  between 
real  and  fabulous  history  is  so  indistinct,  that  we 
cannot  precisely  ascertain  where  it  lies  ;  but  in 
general  we  must  admit  some  foundation  for  events, 
which  have  left  indelible  traces  behind  them, 
though  we  know  the  particulars  of  the  narrative 
to  be  fictitious.  Long  after  we  have  lost  sight 
of  land,  a  bottom  may  still  be  found  by  the  plum- 
met. 

The  original  separation  of  the  Greeks  into  a 
number  of  independent  states,  dicir  associations 
for  certain  national  purposes,  and  the  spirit  of  lib- 
erty, which  pervaded  tliem,  :u'e  circumstances  as 
firmly  established,  as  any  part  of  the  history  of 
mankind.  And  each  of  these  circumstances  essen- 
tially contributed,  first,  to  produce,  and  then  to 
promote  that  extraordinary  attachment  to  the  art 
of  speech,  for  which  they  have  c^er  been  famed. 


78  OmCI-V  OF  ORATORY.         [lECT.  III. 

The  narrow  bounds,  within  which  the  territories 
of  many  states  were  circumscribed,  made  it  prac- 
ticable for  the  whole  people  to  assemble  within  the 
compass  of  a  single  voice.  Their  independence 
of  each  other,  and  the  common  objects,  which 
concerned  them  all,  rendered  a  frequent  inter- 
course of  embassies  and  negotiations  among  them 
necessary ;  and  above  all  their  liberty,  which  made 
their  public  actions  dependent  upon  their  own 
^\ill,  and  their  will  susceptible  of  influence  by  the 
power  of  reason,  could  not  fail  to  create  the  art  of 
oratory,  and  to  prepare  the  triumph  of  eloquence. 
From  a  passage  in  the  Corinthiacs  of  Pausani- 
as,  which  I  have  noticed,  it  appears  that  Pittheus, 
the  uncle  of  Theseus,  about  half  a  century  before 
the  Troj  an  war,  opened  a  school  of  rhetoric  at  the 
city  of  Troezene ;  and  wrote  a  book  upon  the 
subject,  Avhich  Pausanias  declares  he  had  read. 
Some  doubts  have  indeed  been  staned,  whether 
Pausanias  had  not  been  deceived  by  an  Epidau- 
rian,  from  whom  he  procured  the  manuscript;  and 
there  is  no  other  evidence  extant,  confirming  the 
existence  of  such  a  treatise,  or  leading  to  a  con- 
jecture of  its  contents.  There  is  otherwise  noth- 
ing improbable  in  the  stor}- ;  for  the  time,  when 
Pitdieus  is  alledged  to  have  lived,  is  cotemporarA^ 


LECT.  III.J         ORIGIN   OF   ORATORY.  79 

with  the  age  of  Solomon  ;  at  wliich  time  we  have 
the  most  indisputable  proof  in  the  sacred  scrip- 
tures, that  the  art  of  literary  composition,  so  inti- 
mately connected  with  that  of  oratory,  had  been  car- 
ried to  a  high  pitch  of  perfection.  All  the  books  of 
Moses,  including  probably  that  of  Job,  must  have 
been  written  live  hundred  years  before  that  time  ; 
and  the  Grecian  Peloponnesus  appears  to  have 
been  first  settled  by  a  colony  from  Egypt,  the 
same  country^  whence  the  Israelites  issued  to 
make  the  conquest  of  the  promised  land,  and  the 
same  where  Moses  had  received  his  education  and 
acquired  his  learning.  Be  this  as  it  may,  innu- 
merable passages  in  the  Iliad  and  Odyssey  lea\  e 
no  doubt,  that  rhetoric  was  taught,  and  oratory 
practised,  in  high  refinement,  during,  and  before 
the  war  of  Troy.  We  ai*e  there  told,  that  Phoenix 
was  sent  with  Achilles  to  teach  him  eloquence,  as 
well  as  heroism; 

lA.  I.  443. 

or,  as  Pope  has  translated  it,     " 

To  shine  in  councils,  and  in  camps  to  dare. 

iL.  IX.  571. 

And  in  the  Odvssev  Miner^'a  herself  is  said  to 


80  ORIGIN    OF   OllATORY.         j_LECT.  III. 

have  perfonned  the  same  office  to  Telemachus. 
Both  these  poems  are  full  of  speeches,  exhibiting 
all  the  excellencies  and  all  the  varieties  of  practical 
eloquence.  In  the  third  Iliad  Antenor  gives  a 
miiiute  and  contrasted  character  of  the  style  of  elo- 
quence, for  which  Menelaus  and  Ulysses  \verc 
respectively  distinguished.  The  one  concise,  cor- 
rect, and  plain ;  the  other  artful  to  that  last  degree 
of  perfection,  which  consists  in  concealing  ait,  co- 
pious and  astonishing  by  unexpected  and  irresisti- 
ble arguments  ;  while  in  another  passage  the  elo- 
quence of  Nestor,  mild,  insinuating,  and  diffuse,  is 
discriminated  with  clear  accuracy  from  both  the 
others.  Nor  need  I  tell  you,  who  are  so  well  ac- 
quainted with  Homer,  that  the  speeches,  attributed 
to  these  three  personages  in  the  Iliad  and  Odyssey, 
all  exactly  correspond  with  the  character,  thus  ap- 
propriated by  the  poet  to  each  of  them. 

From  this  time  however  for  the  space  of  about 
four  hundred  years,  no  other  traces  of  the  science 
are  to  be  found ;  and  its  first  reappearance  is  in 
the  island  of  Sicily,  where  a  school  of  rhetoric  is 
said  to  have  been  held,  about  five  hundred  years 
before  Christ ;  and  the  first  teacher  of  which  was 
Empedocles.  He  was  soon  succeeded  in  the 
same  country  by  Corax  and  Tisias.      One  of  his 


LECT.  III.]         ORIGIN  OF  ORATORY*  81 

pupils  also  was  Gorgias  of  Leontium,  whose  repu- 
tation has  fluctuated  from  the  extreme  of  admira- 
tion to  that  of  debasement* 

Gorgias  lived  to  the  extraordinary  age  of  one 
hundred  and  nine  }  ears.  Ke  had  a  great  numl:)er 
of  cotemporary  rhetoricians  ;  among  whom  ^vere 
Thrasymachus  of  Chalcedon  ;  Prodicus  of  the 
island  of  Ccos,  and  the  original  author  of  that 
beautiful  and  instructive  fable  of  the  choice  of 
Hercules ;  Protagoras  of  Abdera ;  liippias  of  Elis ; 
Alcidamus  of  Elea  ;  Antiphon,  v/ho  first  publish- 
ed a  rhetoriciil  treatise,  and  a  judicial  oration  to- 
gether ;  Policrates,  damned  to  fame,  as  one 
of  the  advocates  against  Socrates  upon  his  trial ; 
and  Theodore  of  Byzantium.  All  these  writers 
are  included  by  Plato  under  the  contemptuous 
denomination  of  word  weavers. 

Gorgias  was  the  first,  who  extended  so  far 
the  principles  of  his  art,  that  he  professed  to  pre- 
pare his  pupils  for  extemporaneous  declamation 
upon  any  subject  whatsoever.  His  fame  was 
spread  far  and  wide.  His  country,  being  at  war 
with  the  Syracusans,  sent  an  embassy,  at  the  head 
of  which  they  placed  him,  to  solicit  the  alliance  of 
the  Athenians.      His  eloquence  was  admired  at 

Athens  no  less,  than  in  his  own  city.     It  secured 
11 


92  ORIGIN  OF  ORATORY.    [lECT,  IIX. 

%  succcsbful  issue  to  his  mission ;  and  some  of  his 
orations  have  received  tlie  approbation  of  Aristotie 
and  Quinctilian.  It  is  said  by  Cicero,  that  a  gold- 
en statue  of  him  Avas  erected  in  the  temple  of  Del- 
phi, by  the  united  offering  of  all  Greece  i  an  hon- 
or, never  shown  to  any  other  man. 

Unfortunately  however  for  Gorgias,  he  found 
in  Socrates,  or  rather  in  his  disciple,  Plato,  a  rival 
and  antagonist,  whose  works  and  reputation  have 
stood  the  test  of  ages,  better  than  his  own  ;  which 
have  sunk  under  the  weight  of  Ms  adversary's  su- 
periority. Among  the  dialogues  of  Plato  is  one, 
entitled  Gorgias,  from  the  name  of  this  rhetorician, 
and  upon  the  subject  of  the  art.  He  is  there  repre- 
sented in  a  very  ridiculous  light ;  first,  undertak- 
ing to  make  an  orator  eloquent  upon  every  topic 
whatsoever ;  and  yet,  \vhen  required  by  Socrates, 
unable  to  speak  with  common  sense  upon  the  first 
elements  of  his  art.  In  the  hands  of  Plato  Gorgi- 
as is  a  driveller  so  despicable,  that  Socrates  appears 
disgraced  by  a  victory  over  him.  It  is  however 
well  known,  that  no  such  dialogue,  as  that,  pub- 
lished by  Plato,  was  ever  held  between  Gorgias 
and  Socrates ;  and  there  was  too  much  reason  for 
the  exclamation  of  Gorgias,  on  his  first  perusal 
of  the  work ;    "  how  handsomely  that  same  Plato. 


XECT.  Ill*]         ORIGIN  Of  ORATORY.  83 

-can  slander  !"  The  system  and  the  practice  of 
Gorgias  were  too  affected  and  too  presumptuous. 
The  deeper  penetration  and  the  more  chastened 
judgment  Tjf  Socrates  led  to  a  higher  perfection  in  the 
theory  of  rhetoric.  But  if  it  be  true,  as  by  the  con- 
current testimony  of  all  the  ancient  rhetoricians  we 
are  assured,  that  Gorgias  was  the  inventor  of  A\hat 
are  called  topics,  or  common  places,  of  oratorical 
numbers,  and  of  a  general  plan  for  extemporane- 
ous declamation  upon  every  subject,  he  must  be 
considered,  as  one  of  the  principal  improvers  of 
eloquence.  These  things  are  peculiarly  liable  to 
be  abused  ;  but  they  have  been  of  important  use 
to  all  the  celebrated  ancient  orators;  and  to  none 
more,  than  to  Plato  liimself. 

You  will  find  it  useful  to  remember,  that  the 
opposition  of  sentiment  between  Gorgias  and  Soc- 
rates laid  the  foundation  for  two  rival  s}'stems  of 
rhetoric,  the  respective  pretensions  of  which  have 
never  been  definitively  settled.  .  They  gave  rise 
to  two  verj"  distinct  classes  of  orators,  and  two 
different  modes  of  speaking,  distinguished  at  first 
by  the  denominations  of  the  Attic  and  the  Asiatic 
manners ;  and  which  in  modern  times  have  been 
as  generally  understood  by  the  appellations  of  the 
elose  and  the  florid  style. 


84  ORIGIN   OF   ORATORY.        [lECT.  III. 

Isocrates  was  a  disciple  of  Gorgias ;  formed 
upon  the  principles  of  his  school.  In  early  life  he 
had  been  of  opinion,  that  eloquence  ought  not  to 
be  taught,  as  an  art.  Deterred  by  a  natural  and 
insuperable  timidity,  which,  in  common  with  many 
other  men  of  genius,  he  either  had,  or  fancied, 
Irom  evet  speaking  in  public  himself,  he  composed 
orations  for  others,  to  be  delivered  upon  the  trial 
of  judicial  causes.  Tl^is  practice  however  having 
exposed  him  to  a  prosecution,  under  a  certain 
Athenian  lav*',  which  it  was  supposed  to  infringe, 
he  abandoned  the  employment,  and  opened  a 
school  of  rhetoric,  which  soon  became  highly  cele- 
brated, and  fi'om  which,  to  use  an  expression  of 
Cicero,  as  from  the  Trojan  horse,  issued  a  host  of 
heroes.  Isocrates  was  not  only  an  able  rhetoric- 
ian, but  an  excellent  citizen,  and  a  true  patriot. 
When  Socrates  fell  a  victim  to  the  passions  of  a 
partial  tribunal  and  a  deluded  people,  and  all  his 
disciples  were  terrified  into  flight,  Isocrates  had 
the  honorable  intrepidity  to  appear  in  the  streets  of 
Athens  with'the  mourning  garb.  When  Therame- 
nes  was  proscribed  by  the  thirty  tyrants,  Isocrates 
exposed  his  own  life,  by  undertaking  to  defend 
him  at  the  altar  of  refuge  ;  and  after  a  life  of  little 
less  than  a  whole  century,  he  finally  died  broken 


LECT.  III.]         ORIGIN   OF   ORATORY.  85 

hearted,  of  mere  inanition,  upon  the  fatal  issue  of 
the  battle  of  Chaeronea,  that  final  stroke  to  the 
agonizing  liberties  of  Greece.  Isocrates  compos- 
ed upwards  of  sixty  orations,  twenty  one  of  which 
are  still  extant.  His  style  is  remarkable  for  its 
elegance,  its  polished  periods,  and  hai'monious 
numbers.  Like  his  master,  Gorgias,  he  delights 
in  antithesis  and  pointed  expression,  but  he  is 
more  copious  and  diffuse.  He  labored  his  com- 
positions with  such  indefatigable  assiduit}-,  that 
he  is  said  to  have  been  ten  years  employed  upon  a 
single  oration,  entitled  the  panegyric. 

As  the  school  of  Gorgias  and  the  other  soph- 
ists gave  rise  to  the  two  dialogues  of  Plato,  upon 
the  subject  of  rhetoric,  so  that  of  Isocrates  occa- 
sioned the  rival  school  of  Aristotle,  and  led  to  the 
composition  of  that  work,  which  is  the  most  an- 
cient treatise,  professedly  systematic,  upon  the  sci- 
ence, now  extant.  Plato,  as  you  all  know,  was 
one  of  the  disciples  of  Socrates ;  and  with  this  fel- 
low scholar  Xenophon  has  published  the  moral 
and  political  doctrines  of  that  philosopher,  who 
left  nothing  written  himself.  Socrates  was  a 
teacher  of  philosophy,  and  as  well  as  his  follower, 
Plato,  might  have  his  personal  reasons  for  oppos- 
ing the  theories  of  the  other  sophists,  who  incul- 


86  ORIGIN   OF   ORATORY.         [lECT.  III. 

cated  other  principles,  but  followed  the  same  pro- 
fession.  If  the  real  character  of  Socrates  appears 
in  the  writings  of  his  illustrious  pupils,  his  mind 
must  have  been  of  a  sterling  stamp,  and  his  heart  of 
uncommon  excellence.  His  method  of  reasoning 
was  so  striking,  and  so  peculiar  to  himself,  that  to 
this  day  it  is  designated  by  his  name  ;  and  though 
not  perhaps  the  fairest  process  for  a  candid  lo- 
gician, it  has  always  been  considered,  as  a  mode 
of  close  and  irresistible  argument.  It  consists  in 
the  art  of  entiingling  an  adversary  into  absurdity 
and  self  contradiction,  by  a  chain  of  questions,  the 
first  of  which  seems  by  its  simplicity  to  admit  but 
of  one  answer ;  the  last  of  which  with  equal  sim- 
plicity comes  to  the  direct  denial  of  tiie  proposi- 
tion to  "be  refuted,  and  the  connexion  between 
which  is  imperceptible  to  the  opponent,  until  he 
finds  it  too  late  to  retreat.  The  son  of  Sophronis- 
cus,  by  the  turn  of  his  mmd,  was  devoted  to  the 
rigorous  demonstrations  of  logic,  and  perhaps  too 
fastidiously  disdained  the  fascinating  ornaments  of 
rhetoric.  Ver}'-  different  was  the  character  of 
Plato.  With  a  genius  more  sublime,  though  far 
less  correct,  he  was  addicted  to  the  pomp  and 
magnificence  of  speech,  as  much  as  the  rtiost  os- 
tentatious of  the  sophists.     His  imagination  is  so 


I 


lECT.  III.]         ORIGIN   OF  ORATORY.  37 

incessantly  upon  the  wing,  and  soars  to  such  em- 
pyrean lieights,  that  it  requires  no  inconsiderable 
effort  of  the  understanding  to  keep  him  company. 
His  writings  are  not  only  poetical  to  the  extremest 
boundaries  of  poetiy  ;  they  often  encroach  upon 
the  borders  of  mysticism,  and  approach  the  undis- 
tinguishable  regions  of  intellectual  chaos.  It  is 
singular,  that  two  men,  of  characters  so  extremely 
opposite,  should  have  stood  in  precisely  such  a  re- 
lation to  each  other.  That  Socrates  should  have 
written  notliing ;  and  Plato,  nothing  of  his  own. 
That  Plato  should  have  held  himself  out  to  the 
world,  as  the  mere  amanuensis  of  Socrates  ;  and 
diat  Socrates  should  have  intrusted  the  registrv  of 
bis  opinions  to  so  wild  and  eccentric  a  recorder, 
as  Plato.  Hence  there  is  no  small  difficulty  in 
ascertaining  what  part  of  the  sentiments,  imputed 
by  Plato  to  Socrates,  M'ere  really  his  ;  but  it  is 
known,  that  the  disciple  has  often  ascribed  hit, 
own  doctrines  to  the  master.  Hence  also  may  be 
drawn  the  most  natural  solution  of  that  inconsist- 
ency on  the  subject  of  rhetoric,  which  appears  in 
the  two  dialogues  of  Plato  ;  an  inconsistency  so 
glaiing,  that  in  the  Phaedrus,  Pericles  is  mention- 
ed, as  a  highly  accomplished  orator,  while  in  the 
Gorgias  he  is  as  positively  pronoimced  to  be  ug 


88  ORIGIN   OF  ORATOllY.         [lECT.  III. 

orator  at  all.     It  is  also  remarkable,  that  the  Phae- 
drus  closes  with  a  declaration  of  Socrates,  that  he 
intends  to  repeat  the  substance  of  his  precepts  to 
his  young  friend,  Isocrates,  of  whose  abilities  and 
virtues  he  speaks  in  terms    of   panegyric,   and 
whom  he  pronounces  superior,  as  an  orator,   to 
Lysias.     Yet  Isocrates  preferred  the  system  of  his 
first  master,  Gorgias.     It  is  much  to  be  regretted, 
that  the  rhetorical  work  of  Isocrates  is  no  longer 
extant,  because,  as  the  admirable  work  of  Aristo- 
tle was  written  in  professed  opposition  to  it,  we 
might  doubtless  derive  much  useful  instruction 
from  a  full  and  fair  comparison  of  the  t^vo  systems 
together^ 

Besides  the  principal  work  of  Aristotle  on 
rhetoric,  which  is  in  three  books,  there  is  another 
treatise,  seemingly  containing  a  compendium  of 
the  whole,  published  with  the  common  editions  of 
his  works,  and  usually,  though  I  believe  not  cor- 
rectly, attributed  to  him.  It  is  addressed  to  Alex- 
ander the  Great,  of  whom  Aristotle  was  indeed  the 
preceptor  ;  but  there  are  many  circumstances, 
which  lead  to  the  inference,  that  it  was  the  work  of 
another  writer,  supposed  to  be  Anaximenes  of 
Lampsacus.  This  was  a  WTitcr  of  the  same  age, 
and,   together  with   Aristotle,    was   selected    by 


LECT.  III.]         ORIGIN   OF   ORATORY.  89 

Philip  of  Macedon,  as  one  of  his  son's  instructers. 
His  principal  writings  were  historical,  and  his  style 
has  been  characterized,  as  polished  and  correct, 
but  florid,  diffuse,  and  feeble.     This  description 
applies  exactly  to  the  rhetoric,  addressed  to  Alex- 
ander, though  nothing  can  be  a  stronger  conti^ast, 
than  the  style  of  all  the  voluminous  works,  known 
to  have  been  \vritten  by  Aristotle.      Demetrius 
Phalereus  lived  in  the  age,  succeeding  that  of  Aris- 
totle.    He  is  celebrated,  as  the  last  of  the  Grecian 
orators  ;  and  in  that  character  I  shall  speak  of  him 
more  at  large  on  some  future  occasion.     I  men- 
tion him  here,  because  there  is  a  valuable  treatise 
upon  elocution  extant,  which  has  been  attributed 
to  him ;  though  some  learned  critics  have  suppos- 
ed it  the  work  of  another  Demetrius,  of  Alexan- 
dria, who  lived  several  centuries  later;  while  others 
have  ascribed  it  to  Dionysius  of  Halicamassus. 
^,   The  principal  evidence,  upon  whicli  it  has  been 
concluded  not  to  be  the  production  of  Phalereus, 
is,  that,  being  professedly  a  treatise  upon  elocution, 
or  style,  it  not  only  differs  most  essentially  from 
that,  which  was  peculiar  to  this  Athenian  orator, 
but  passes  censure  upon  all  its  characteristic  fea- 
tures.    It  is  a  valuable  treatise,  discussing  at  large 

that  important  branch  of  the  oratorical  art,  and 
12 


90  OUIGIN  Of  ORATORY.        ([lECT.  HI. 

serving  as  a  proper  supplement  to  the  general  sys- 
tem of  Aristotle,  in  which  elocution  is  not  so  mi- 
nutely considered. 

There  are  several  other  rhetorical  treatises, 
full  of  solid  and  ingenious  criticism,  written  by 
Dionysius  of  Halicarnassus.  He  is  more  general- 
ly known  indeed,  as  one  of  the  principal  historians 
of  Rome  ;  a  considerable,  though  proportionably 
small  part  of  his  work  on  the  Roman  antiquities 
being  yet  extant.  He  lived  in  the  age  of  Augustus 
Caesar,  and  spent  a  great  part  of  his  life  at  Rome, 
^vhere  he  is  supposed  to  have  been  a  teacher  of 
rhetoric. 

The  next  of  the  Grecian  rhetoricians  in  point 
of  time  is  Lucian  of  Samosata,  who  lived[  and  died 
in  the  second  century  of  the  christian  era.  After 
having  been  successively  a  sculptor  and  a  practi- 
tioner at  the  bar,  and  becoming  disgusted  with 
both  these  professions,  he  finally  became  a  teacher 
of  rhetoric.  His  acquirements  in  literature  and 
moral  philosophy  were  far  above  the  level  of  his 
age  ;  and  the  turn  of  his  mind  inclining  to  ridi- 
cule and  satire,  he  is  perhaps  the  wittiest  writer 
of  antiquity.  He  satirized  v/ith  so  much  freedom 
the  gods  of  paganism,  that  some  learned  men  in 
modern  times  have  supposed  he  was  a  christian : 


LECT.  III.]         ORIGIN   OF  ORATORY.  9,1 

'  though  no  other  evidence  of  the  fact  has  been  ad- 
duced. 

The  treatise,  which  has  led  me  to  speak  of 
him  in  this  place,  is  entitled  'Pvjtojwv  AiSocaxuXog, 
the  teacher  of  orators.  It  is  ironical  and  allegor- 
ical ;  holding  out  two  systems  of  instruction  for 
forming  a  public  speaker,  as  delivered  by  two 
fictitious  persons.  The  one  indolent,  dissipated, 
and  fashionable  ;  the  other  laborious,  se\Tre,  and 
forbidding.  Like  Swift's  directions  to  ser- 
vants, which  were  probably  suggested  by  them, 
Lucian's  instructions  mingle  the  satire  of  his  own 
age  with  the  lesson  to  the  next ;  and  his  moral  is 
only  that  of  the  old  Greek  adage,  that  the  gods 
sell  every  thing  to  labor. 

Nearly  about  the  same  time  lived  Hermoge- 
nes,  one  of  the  most  extraordinary  examples  of 
early  intellectual  maturity  and  decay.  At  the  age 
of  fifteen  his  celebrity,  as  a  teacher  of  rhetoric,  at- 
tracted the  personal  attendance  of  the  emperor, 
Marcus  Antoninus,  at  his  lectures ;  and  the  impe- 
rial satisfaction  was  manifested  with  princely  mu- 
nificence.  The  rhetorical  works  of  Hermogenes, 
parts  of  which  are  yet  extant,  were  composed  at 
eighteen.  At  twenty  four  he  lost  his  facuUies, 
and  continued  during  the  remainder  of  his  life  in 


92  ORIGIN   01-    OllATOaV.         [lECT.  Ill, 

a  state,  not  far  removed  from  idiotism.  With 
several  small  fragments,  there  are  two  treatises  of 
tliis  author  almost  entire.  One  upon  the  charac- 
ter of  an  oration  in  five  l)Ooks,  and  one  upon  ideas 
in  two.  They  are  yet  in  high  estimation,  and 
have  sometimes  been  preferred  even  to  the  work 
of  Aristotle. 

I  pass  over  the  Avritings  of  Aristides,  Apsines, 
Sopater,  Alexander,  Menander,  Minucian,  Cyrus, 
Apthonius,  Theon,  Ulpian,  Tiberius,  and  Seve- 
rus,  who  all  lived  near  the  time  of  Lucian  and  Her- 
mogenes.  There  are  short  treatises  on  various 
rhetorical  subjects  by  all  these  writers  ;  which 
contain  little  else  but  repetitions  of  the  precepts, 
taught  by  Aristotle  and  Hermogenes.  But  Lon- 
ginus  must  not  be  thus  slighdy  noticed.  His 
work  upon  the  sublime  should  be  studied  by  eve- 
ry orator,  and  even  by  every  writer  in  any  depart- 
ment of  literature.  Though  confined  to  a  single 
subject,  that  subject  is  sublimity  ;  though  gnawed 
and  mutilated  by  the  tooth  of  time  into  a  mere 
fragment,  it  is  a  fragment  from  the  table  of  the 
gods. 

With  Longinus  the  rhetorical  genius  of 
Greece  expired  ;  and  preserved  to  its  last  gasp 
the  proud  preeminence  of  its  youth.     The  lumi- 


LECT.  III.]         OJIICIN   OF   ORATORY,  93 

nary,  which  had  so  long  enlightened  the  world, 
after  languishing  long  in  decline,  at  the  moment  of 
extinction,  kindled  into  a  blaze  of  transient  glory. 
Longinus  lived  in  the  third  century  of  the  christ- 
ian era.  He  was  at  once  the  rhetorical  instructer 
and  minister  of  state  to  Zenobia,  the  celebrated 
queen  of  Palmyra.  With  the  prerogative  of  gen- 
uine  eloquence  he  inspired  her  heroic  sentiments 
into  the  mind  of  the  princess.  But  he  could 
not  convert  a  people,  degraded  by  servitude, 
into  a  nation  of  heroes.  Zenobia  sunk  before  the 
victorious  legions  of  Aurelian;  and  Longinus,  like 
the  great  orators  of  better  days,  paid  the  usual 
tribute  of  transcendent  genius,  the  forfeit  of  his 
life,  to  the  principles  of  an  unconquerable  soul. 

Here  I  shall  conclude  the  review  of  the  Gre- 
cian rhetoricians.  It  was  my  first  intention,  up- 
on mentioning  their  works,  to  have  given  you  u 
brief  analytical  survey  of  their  contents.  This 
however  I  soon  found  would  require  a  course  of 
lectures  by  itself.  Perhaps  at  some  future  time, 
when  the  principles  of  the  science  shall  be  more 
familiar  to  your  muids,  I  shall  undertake  to  make ' 
you  better  acquainted  with  these  venerable  relics 
of  antiquity,  many  of  which  are  so  contemptuous- 
ly undervalued  by  modem  writers.     You  w  ill  also 


94  ORIGIN  OF  ORATORY.        [lECT.  III. 

remark,  that  I  have  yet  spoken  only  of  the  rhetor- 
icians, and  have  left  the  orators  and  their  works 
for  future  consideration.  In  pursuance  of  this 
plan  I  shall  in  my  next  lecture  call  your  attention 
to  the  history  of  the  science  at  Rome. 


LECTURE  IV. 


ORIGIN  AND  PROGRESS  OF  ORATORY  AT  ROME. 


THE  origin  of  the  Grecian,  and  Roman  repub- 
lics, though  equally  involved  in  the  obscurities 
and  uncertainties  of  fabulous  events,  present  one 
remarkable  distinction,  which  continues  percepti- 
ble in  the  progress  of  their  history,  tlirough  a  suc- 
cession of  several  centuries.  The  first  principle 
of  human  association  in  Greece,  as  far  as  it  can  be 
traced,  was  common  consent.  At  Rome  it  was 
force.  This  striking  difference  of  character  is 
perceptible  even  in  the  flibles,  which  form  the  ba- 
sis of  the  respective  histories.  Thus,  while  in 
Greece  it  was  the  liarp  of  Orpheus  and  tlie  lyre  of 
Amphion,  which  attracted  mankind  by  the  fasci- 
nations of  pleasure  into  the  ties  of  civil  society,  tlie 


96  ORIGIiV   OF   ORATORY.  [lECT.  IV. 

founder  of  the  Roman  state  is  cxhibKed,  as  begot- 
ten by  the  god  of  battles  ;    suckled  in  his  infancy 
by  a  wolf ;    cementing  the  walls  of  his  rising  city 
with  the  blood  of  fraternal  murder ;    and  finding 
no  expedient  for  its    population    but  rape  ;    no 
means  for  its  subsistence  but  rapine.     It  is  among 
the  natural  consequences  of  this  contrast  in  the 
foundations  of  their  municipal  associations,  that 
the  powers  of  eloquence  were  so  early  discovered 
among  the  Greeks,  and  remained  so  long  concealed 
among  the  Romans.      Violence  and  persuasion, 
being  in  their  nature  as  opposite  to  each  other,  as 
light  and  darkness,  can  never  exist  together ;  and 
by  their  reciprocal  antipathies,  wheresoever  either 
predominates,  the  other  must  be  excluded.     Thus 
we  have  seen,  that  in  Greece  the  art  of  persuasion 
by  speech  was  held  in  honor  and  in  exercise  of 
power  from  the  first  moment,  that  any  real  fact 
can  be  discerned.     In  the  Grecian  annals  history 
and  oratory  make  their  first  appearance,  entering 
hand  in  hand  upon  the  scene.      But  so  far  are 
these  personages  from  presenting  themselves  on 
the  Roman  theatre  together,  that  the  first  notice 
we  have  of  rhetoric,  in  the  imperial  city,  is  a  decree 
of  the  senate,  passed  in  the  five  hundred  and  nine- 
ty second  year  from  its  foiuidation,  and  command- 


LECT.  IV.]  ORIGIN   OF  ORATORY.  97 

ing  the  expulsion  of  all  philosophers  and  rhetoric- 
ians from  Rome.  The  lordly  nation  seems  to  have 
been  as  averse  to  thinking,  as  to  speaking.  "  Tu 
regere  imperio  populos"  was  their  only  maxim, 
and  they  disdained  to  rule  with  any  thing  but  a 
rod  of  iron.  In  proportion  however  as  the  Ro- 
mans acquired  a  more  intimate  acquaintance  with 
the  Greeks,  they  became  accessible  to  that  all- sub- 
duing charm,  which  accompanies  the  elegant  arts. 
These  gradually  obtained  the  same  ascendency, 
which  they  had  so  long  enjoyed  in  Greece,  and 
eloquence  was  successively  tolerated  and  en- 
couraged, until  the  study  became  an  indispen- 
sable part  of  education  to  every  young  man  of 
fortune  or  distinction  in  the  city.  In  the  first  in- 
stance, and  for  several  ages,  it  was  taught  only 
in  the  Greek  language  and  by  Greek  professors ; 
insomuch,  that  when  Plotius  opened  the  first 
school  of  rhetoric  in  Latin,  which  had  ever  been 
known,  Cicero,  then  a  youth,  burning  with  the 
ambition  of  acquiring  the  oratorical  art,  was  dis- 
suaded by  his  friends  from  attending  the  lessons 
of  this  Latin  teacher,  and  adhered  to  tlie  language 
and  instructers  of  Greece.  The  progress  of  the 
art,  in  the  public  opinion,  may  be  discerned  in  the 
rank  and  station  of  tlie  persons,  who  at  different 

Jo 


08  ORIGIN    OF   ORATORY.  [lECT.  IV. 

times  engaged  in  the  occupation  of  teaching  it. 
During  a  certain  period  it  \\'as  confined  to  the  class 
of  frecdmen,  the  lowest  order  of  Roman  citizens. 
In  process  of  time  it  Avas  deemed  worthy  of  employ- 
ing the  time  and  the  faculties  of  a  Roman  knight ; 
and  thence  continued  to  rise  in  reputation  and  in- 
fluence, until  Cato,  the  censor,  Antonius,  the  ora- 
tor, so  highly  celebrated  by  Cicero,  and  Cicero 
himself,  deemed  it  no  disparagement  to  devote 
their  faculties  to  the  improvement  of  their  fellow 
citizens  in  the  art  of  speech.  The  writings  of 
Cato  and  of  Antonius  on  this  subject  liave  not 
reached  us.  And  those  of  several  other  Roman 
writers,  mentioned  by  Cicero  and  Quinctilian,  are 
also  lost.  They  are  perhaps  not  much  to  be  re- 
gretted, while  we  are  in  possession  of  Cicero  and' 
Quinctilian. 

Of  Cicero,  considered  as  a  practical  orator,  we 
shall  have  occasion  to  speak  much  at  large  in  the 
course  of  these  lectures.  In  that  character  he  is 
more  or  less  known  to  you  alL  In  that  character 
you  all  admire  him  already  ;  and  I  trust,  as  you 
advance  in  years,  ^id  in  knowledge,  will  admire 
him  yet  more.  As  a  teacher  of  rhetoric  and  ora- 
tory, he  is  not  so  generally  read  ;  but  his  rhetoric- 
al works  have  a  recommendation  to  the  student. 


lECT.  IV.]  ORIGIN   OF   ORATORY.  99 

beyond  all  others ;  because  they  are  the  lessons  of 
a  consummate  master  upon  his  own  art.  His 
theory  holds  a  flambeau  to  his  practice,  and  his 
practice  is  a  comment  upon  his  theoiy.  It  is  a  re- 
mark of  Rochcfoucault,  that  no  man  ever  exerted 
his  faculties  to  tlie  full  extent,  of  which  tliey  were 
capable.  If  there  ever  was  an  exception  to  the 
universality  of  this  remark,  it  was  Cicero.  He 
presents  the  most  perfect  example  of  that  rare 
and  splendid  combination,  universal  genius  and 
indefatigable  application,  which  the  annals  of  the 
world  can  produce.  There  have  been  other  men 
as  liberally  gifted  by  nature.  There  may  pos- 
sibly have  been  men,  whose  exercise  of  their  fac- 
ulties has  been  as  incessant.  But  of  tliat  mutual 
league  between  nature  and  study,  that  compact  of 
ethereal  spirit  and  terrestrial  toil,  that  alliance  of 
heaven  and  earth,  to  produce  a  Avonder  of  the 
world  in  Jiuman  shape,  which  he  has  described 
with  such  inimitable  beauty,  hi  one  of  his  orations, 
there  never  was  so  illustrious,  so  sublime  an  in- 
stance, as  himself. 

His  rhetorical  treatises  are  seven  in  number, 
besides  a  system  in  four  books,  addressed  to  He- 
rinnius,  printed  in  all  the  general  editions  of  his 
works,  iMit  probably  not  ^iTitten  !)y  him.      As  a 


100  ORIGIN   Of    ORATORY.  [lECT.  IV. 

poet,  a  historian,  a  philosopher,  a  moralist,  and  an 
epistolary  writer,  the  rank  of  Cicero  is  in  the  very 
iirst  line.  But  by  a  singular  fatality  his  reputa- 
tion has  been  offuscated  by  its  own  splendor,  and 
his  writings  in  half  a  dozen  departments  of  science, 
which  would  have  caiTied  as  many  silent  writers 
to  the  pinnacle  of  fame,  have  been  shorn  of  tlieir 
beams,  in  the  flood  of  glory,  the  one  unclouded 
blaze  of  his  eloquence. 

The  uncontrolable  propensity  of  his  mind  was 
undoubtedly  to  oratory.  From  the  twenty  sixth 
year  of  his  age,  when  he  pronounced  his  oration 
for  Quinctius,  to  the  last  year  of  his  life,  when  he 
delivered  the  philippics  against  Mark  Antony ; 
that  is,  for  the  space  of  nearly  forty  years,  his  stud- 
ies in  the  closet,  and  his  practice  in  all  the  stages 
of  oratory,  were  without  intermission.  Hence 
arose  the  numerous  treatises  upon  the  art,  which 
at  different  times  he  composed.  Some  while  yet  a 
student,  and  before  he  plunged  into  the  bustle  of 
active  life;  others  in  the  midst  of  those  great  polit- 
ical events,  in  w^hich  he  bore  so  distinguished  and 
so  admirable  a  part.  But  the  principal  of  these 
works,  the  work,  over  which  the  future  orator 
must  consume  the  last  drop  of  his  midnight  oil, 
and  hail  the  first  beam  of  returning  dawn,  is  the 


LECT.  IV. 3  ORIGIN   OF  ORATORY.  101 

treatise  in  three  books,  written  in  the  form  of  dia- 
logues, and  entitled  de  oratore.  They  were 
composed  at  the  request  of  his  brother,  when  tlie 
author's  judgment  was  matured  by  experience, 
and  his  genius  in  the  meridian  of  its  vigor.  The 
substance  of  his  svstem  is  collected  from  those  of 
Aristotle  and  Isocratcs,  the  two  rival  s}'stems  of 
Greece.  The  form  of  dialogue,  into  which  he  has 
tlirown  the  work,  he  adopted  from  Plato.  He 
supposes  a  conversation,  on  the  subject  of  oratory, 
to  have  arisen  between  Antonius,  Crassus,  and 
Caesar;  three  persons  of  high  rank  and  distinction, 
the  most  celebrated  orators  of  their  age,  and  who 
lived  about  half  a  century  before  him.  Each  of 
these  interlocutors  had  been  noted  for  a  peculiar 
characteristic  manner,  and  Cicero,  by  observing 
to  make  each  of  them  speak  conformablj^  to  his 
known  chai*acter,  avails  himself  of  the  occasion  to 
discuss  the  important  questions,  involved  in  the 
theories  of  the  art. 

The  first  of  these  dialogues  begins  by  discuss- 
ing the  various  opinions  concerning  the  talents, 
essential  to  tlie  composition  of  an  orator.  This  is 
in  substance  onlv  settling:  the  true  definition  of 
the  art.  Yet  this  gives  rise  to  a  useful  and  in- 
structive ei^amination  of  fundamental  principles. 


102  ORIGIN   or   ORATORY.  [lECT.  IV, 

Crassus  affirms,  that  the  only  able  statesman  must 
be  an  orator,  always  prepared  to  spealv:,  and  to  ex- 
cite admiration  upon  every  subject.  Scevola, 
who  is  introduced  as  occasionally  taking  part  in 
the  dialogue,  insists,  that  the  philosopher  is  the 
only  suitable  ruler  of  a  nation,  and  that  the  art  of 
government  is  to  be  learnt  only  in  the  schools  of 
philosophy.  For  example,  says  he,  how  can  a  m^n 
be  qualified  for  the  management  of  a  state,  with- 
out the  knowledge  of  physical  nature,  the  struc- 
ture of  the  earth,  and  the  phenomena  of  the  uni- 
verse ;  to  be  acquired  only  by  the  study  of  nat- 
ural philosophy  ?  And  how  can  a  man  obtain  the 
confidence  of  a  whole  people  in  his  moral  charac- 
ter, or  that  knowledge  of  the  human  heart,  ^vhich 
alone  can  establish  his  control  over  the  will,  with- 
out a  profound  investigation  of  the  science  of 
moral  pliilosophy  or  etliics  ? 

From  this  diversity  of  opinion  Crassus  pro- 
ceeds to  affirm,  that  for  the  genuine  orator  noth- 
ing less  can  suffice,  than  universal  knowledge. 
And  he  successively  shows  how  an  acquaintance 
with  the  science  of  government,  with  the  forms  of 
administration,  with  the  doctrines  of  religion,  with 
laws,  usages,  history,  and  the  knowledge  of  man- 
kind, may  be  applied  to  the  purposes  of  tlie  orator. 


LECT.  IV.]  ORIGIN  OF  ORATORY.  103 

Physics  and  mathematics,  he  contends,  are  iu 
their  own  nature  inert  sciences,  of  Httle  use  ev- 
en to  their  professors,  without  the  talent  of  the 
speaker  to  give  them  Hfe  ;  while  in  the  whole  cir- 
cle of  science  there  is  not  a  particle  of  knowledge, 
which  can  be  condemned  to  sleep,  in  the  mind  of 
an  orator. 

Besides  this  broad  basis  of  universal  knowl- 
edge, the  orator  of  Crassus  must  be  endowed  with 
a  fine  natural  genius,  and  a  pleasing  personal  ap- 
pearance. He  must  have  a  soul  of  fire;  an  iron 
application ;  indefatigable,  unremitting  assiduity 
of  exercise  in  writing  and  composition  ;  unweari- 
ed patience  to  correct  and  revise  ;  constant  reading 
of  the  poets,  orators,  and  historians ;  the  practice 
of  declamation  ;  the  exercise  and  improvement  of 
the  memory  ;  the  attentive  cultivation  of  the  grac- 
es ;  and  a  habit  of  raillery  and  humor,  shaq^ened 
by  wit,  but  tempered  with  the  soberest  judgment, 
to  point  their  application. 

This  is  rather  an  ideal  description  of  what  an 
orator  ought  to  be,  than  what  among  the  common 
materials,  of  which  human  nature  is  composed, 
will  readily  be  foiuid.  But  Crassus  has  a  substan- 
tial reason  to  alledge  for  every  one  of  the  accom- 
plishments,  which  he  requires,  that  his  speaker 


104  ORIGIN   OF  ORATORY.  [lECT.  IV. 

should  possess.  Tlie  orator  must  excel  in  his 
profession,  or  he  cannot  deserve  the  name.  The 
orator  must  please  ;  he  must  captivate  ;  he 
must  charm  ;  he  must  transfix  aftoctcd  wisdom 
'  and  hypocrisy  with  the  blasting  bolt  of  ridi- 
cule ;  he  must  dait  the  thrills  of  ten'or  into 
the  souls  of  his  enemies  ;  lie  must  overwhelm 
guilt  with  confusion  ;  he  must  lead  innocence 
to  the  tlirone  of  triumi^h.  The  orator  must 
wield  a  nation  with  a  breath ;  he  must  kindle  or 
compose  their  passions  at  his  pleasure.  Now  he 
must  cool  them  to  justice,  and  now  inflame  them 
to  glory.  To  discharge  functions  like  these,  it  is 
obvious,  that  no  penurious  or  scanty  stock  of 
knowledge  will  suffice,  and  no  provision,  however 
abundant,  can  be  superfluous. 

After  this  magnificent  enumeration  of  the  qual- 
ifications, necessary  for  a  perfect  orator,  Antonius 
is  requested  to  point  out  the  means  of  acquiring 
them.  Antonius  however  was  of  opinion,  that  the 
reputation  of  universal  knowledge  was  by  no 
means  necessary,  and  might  be  very  prejudicial 
to  a  public  speaker.  Antonius  begins  then  by 
controverting  the  opinion  of  Crassus.  The  talent 
of  Antonius  was  principally  defensive.  His  great- 
est power  consisted  in  refuting  the  opinions   of 


LECT.  IV.]    ORIGIN  Of  ORATORY,         lOS 

otliers,  and,  instead  of  admitting  universal  knowl- 
edge to  be  necessary  for  an  orator,  he  contends, 
that  an  orator  scarcely  needs  any  knowledge  at  all. 
This  doctrine  he  supports  with  so  much  ingenious 
plausibility,  that  the  hearers  are  left  in  scime  sus- 
pense, and  scarcely  know  which  of  the  two  opin- 
ions to  adopt.  In  this  method  of  treating  the  sub- 
ject, Cicero  purposely  followed  the  example  of 
Plato ;  who  in  most  of  his  dialogues,  after  fully 
discussing  the  two  sides  of  a  question,  leaves  the 
judgment  of  the  issue  to  the  sagacity  of  the  reader. 
Plato  indeed  generally  makes  this  a  compliment 
rather  of  form,  than  of  substance ;  for  one  side  of 
his  argument  is  so  strong,  and  the  other  so  weak, 
that  the  decision  is  apparently  drawn  up  by  himself, 
and  left  for  the  reader  only  to  pronounce.  Nor  has 
Cicero  chosen  to  leave  his  reader  in  the  dark  with 
regard  to  his  own  opinion,  and  in  the  second  dia- 
logue he  brings  Antonius  to  the  confession,  that 
his  opposition  to  the  sentiments  of  Crassus  on  the 
preceding  day  was  a  mere  trial  of  skill  for  his 
amusement,  and  that  his  affectation  of  ignorance 
was  an  artifice  to  elude  the  suspicion  and  distrust, 
which  a  high  reputation  of  learning  is  apt  to  ex- 
cite in  the  minds  of  judges  against  an  advocate  ; 

a  prejudice,  not  without  example  in  later  ages,  tlian 
14 


106  ORIGIN  OF  ORATORY.         [lECT.  IV» 

that  of  Antonius  or  Cicero.  In  this  dialogue 
however  Antonius  enters  into  a  minute  investiga- 
tion of  the  art ;  assigns  its  Umits ;  marks  its  divis- 
ions; and  in  the  familiar,  easy  style  of  elegant  con- 
versation, introduces  the  most  important  precepts 
of  Aristotle.  He  passes  in  successive  review  the 
subjects  of  proof,  observance  of  manners,  and 
management  of  the  passions ;  and  particularly  urges 
the  advantages  of  ready  wit,  and  a  talent  at  ridi- 
cule, in  judicial  orator}^  Crassus  is  the  principal 
speaker  of  the  third  dialogue,  and  his  subject  is 
elocution.  Crassus  was  distinguished  for  the  ele- 
gance of  his  oratorical  compositions ;  but,  like 
those  of  Demosthenes,  they  were  charged  by  the 
speaker's  enemies  with  smelling  too  much  of  the 
lamp.  He  alledgcs  two  distinct  sources  of  orna- 
ment in  discourse,  one  of  which  must  arise  from 
the  dignity  of  the  subject,  and  will  naturally  com- 
municate some  part  of  its  elevation  to  the  express- 
ions, used  for  its  developement ;  and  the  other 
from  the  diction,  the  choice  and  collocation  of 
words,  and  the  figures  of  speech.  This  distinc- 
tion is  at  once  rational  and  useful ;  and  a  natural 
inference  from  it  is,  that  the  graces  of  the  subject 
ought  to  pervade  every  part  of  the  discourse,  while 
those  of  diction  should  only  occasionally  be  intro- 


LECT.  IV.]    ORIGIN  OF  ORATORY.         107 

duced,  and  scattered  with  a  sparing  hand.  Anoth- 
er observation  of  Crassus  will  be  found  of  emi- 
nent utility  to  be  held  in  remembrance  by  the 
student.  In  maintaining,  that  an  orator  ought  to 
have  some  tincture  of  every  science,  he  cautions 
against  die  application  of  too  much  time  to  stud- 
ies of  minutiae,  and  especially  of  science  merely 
speculative.  The  knowledge,  necessary  to  dis- 
courtjC  with  propriety  upon  any  art,  is  very  differ- 
ent from  that,  which  is  indispensable  to  practise 
tlie  art.  The  orator  is  to  obtain  such  knowledge, 
as  may  be  useful  to  him  in  the  exercise  of  his 
own  profession  ;  and  that,  without  being  equall}' 
profound,  will  enable  him  to  discourse  upon  the 
art  more  copiously,  and  more  accurately  too,  than, 
can  the  very  artists,  who  make  it  the  exclusive 
©ccupation  of  their  lives. 

The  principles  of  the  oratorical  art,  like  all 
other  knowledge,  may  be  taught  by  the  analytical, 
or  by  the  synthetical  process.  These  terms  and 
the  ideas,  annexed  to  them,  may  not  be  perfectly 
clear  to  the  minds  of  some  of  you.  But  you  will 
perceive  by  the  derivation  of  tlie  words  them- 
selves, which  is  from  the  Greek  language,  that 
analysis  is  the  process,  which  takes  to  pieces ;  and 
synthesis  is  that,  which  puts  together.     Thys  in 


108  ORIGIN   or   ORATOILY.  [lECT.  IV. 

the  dialogues  de  onitore,  Cicero  has  analyzed,  and 
exhibited  separately  the  various  qualifieations, 
^\  hich  eontribute  to  the  formation  of  an  eloquent 
speaker.  In  the  orator  he  has  combined  imd  em- 
bodied the  same  precepts,  to  show  how  they  arc 
to  be  brought  into  action.  The  dialogues  give  a 
dissection  of  the  art  into  its  constituent  parts ;  the 
orator  gathers  the  parts,  and  connects  them  into 
an  organized  body.  The  dialogues  are  a  delinea- 
tion of  the  talent ;  the  orator  is  a  portrait  of  the 
speaker. 

The  Grecian  philosophers  first  conceived,  and 
Plato  has  largely  expatiated  upon,  Avhat  they  call 
the  beautiful,  and  the  good,  in  the  abstract. 
Beauty  and  goodness  ai-e  properties,  and,  as  to  any 
object  perceptible  to  the  senses,  neither  of  them 
can  exist  without  some  substance,  in  which  they 
may  exist.  A  good  man,  or  a  beautiful  woman, 
is  perceptible  to  the  eye  and  to  the  reason  of  us 
all ;  but  the  qualities  themselves  we  caimot  readily 
discern,  without  the  aid  of  imagination.  But  as 
imperfection  is  stamped  upon  every  work  of  na- 
ture, the  imagination  is  able  to  conceive  of  good- 
ness and  beauty  more  perfect,  than  they  can  be 
found  in  any  of  the  works  of  nature,  or  of  man. 
This  creature  of  the  imagination  Plato  designates 


LECr.  IV.]    ORIGIN  OF  ORATORY.         109 

by  the  name  of  the  good  and  fair.  That  is,  good- 
ness and  beauty,  purified  from  all  tlie  dross  of 
natural  imperfection.  And  then,  by  one  step  more 
of  the  imagination,  we  arc  required  to  personify 
tliese  sublime  abstractions,  and  call  up  to  the  eye 
of  fancy  images,  in  which  goodness  and  beauty 
would  appear,  if  they  could  assume  a  human 
shape.  Tliis  principle  was  applied  to  the  fine 
arts,  as  well  as  to  morals ;  and  the  painters  and 
sculptors,  in  imitating  the  productions  of  nature, 
improved  upon  them  by  these  ideal  images,  and 
created  those  wonders  of  art,  Avhich  still  excite  the 
astonishment  of  every  beholder.  The  antique 
statues  of  the  Apollo  and  Venus  have  thus  been 
considered,  for  nearly  tliree  thousand  years,  the 
perfect  models  of  human  beauty.  Such  exquisite 
proportions,  such  an  assemblage  of  features  was 
never  found  in  any  human  form.  But  the  idea 
was  in  the  mind  of  the  artist,  and  his  chisel  has 
given  it  a  local  habitation  in  the  minds  of  others. 
It  was  the  conception  and  the  pursuit  of  this  ideal 
beauty,  which  produced  all  the  wonders  of  Gre- 
cian art.  Cicero  applied  it  to  eloquence.  It  ap- 
pears to  have  been  the  study  of  his  whole  life  to 
form  an  idea  of  a  perfect  orator,  and  of  exhibiting 
J  lis  image  to  the  world.      In  this  treatise  he  has 


410         ORIGIN  OF  ORATORY.     [lECT.  IV. 

concentrated  the  result  of  all  his  observation,  ex- 
perience, and  reflection.  It  is  die  idealized  image 
of  a  speaker,  in  the  mind  of  Cicero  ;  what  a  speak- 
er should  be ;  what  no  speaker  ever  will  be  ;  but 
what  every  speaker  should  devote  die  labors  of  his 
life  to  approximate. 

Let  it  be  remembered,  that  this  inflexible,  un- 
remitting pursuit  of  ideal  and  unattainable  excel- 
lence is  the  source  of  all  the  real  excellence,  which 
the  world  has  ever  seen.  It  is  the  foundation  of 
every  tiling  great  and  good,  of  which  man  can  boast. 
It  is  one  of  the  proofs,  that  the  soul  of  man  is  im- 
mortal ;  and  it  is  at  the  foundation  of  the  whole 
doctrme  of  Christianity.  It  is  the  root  of  all  real 
excellence  in  religion,  in  morals,  and  in  taste.  It 
was  so  congenial  to  tlie  mind  of  Cicero,  that  in  the 
treatise,  of  which  I  am  now  speaking,  he  took  the 
most  elaborate  pains,  and  the  most  exquisite  pleas- 
ure, in  setting  it  forth.  He  addressed  it  to  his 
friend  Brutus,  at  whose  desire  it  was  written  ;  and 
in  one  of  the  familiar  epistles  Cicero  declares,  that 
he  wishes  this  work  to  be  considered,  as  the  test 
of  his  capacity  ;  that  it  contains  the  quintessence 
of  all  his  faculties. 

The  principal  difficulty  of  the  subject  was  to 
settle  a  standard  of  eloquence ;    for  the  original 


tICT.  IV.3        ORIGIN   OF  ORATORV.      *  HI 

controversy  between  the  rival  Asiatic  and  Attic 
schools,  which  I  have  mentioned,  was  so  far  from 
being  decided,  that  it  had  given  rise  to  a  third 
system,  partaking  of  both  the  others,  and  usually 
known  by  the  name  of  die  Rliodian  manner. 
Cicero  therefore  determines,  that  there  are  sub- 
jects, peculiarly  fitted  to  each  of  these  three  modes 
of  speaking,  and  that  the  perfection  of  the  orator 
consists  in  the  proper  use  and  variation  of  them 
all,  according  to  the  occasion.  The  most  re- 
markable example  of  which,  he  thinks,  is  to  be 
found  in  the  famous  oration  of  Demosthenes  for 
Ctesiphon  ;  commonly  called  the  oration  for  the 
crown.  In  the  distinction,  which  he  draws  be- 
tween the  schools  of  Isocrates  and  of  Aristotle, 
we  find  the  true  criterion  for  judging  their  re- 
spective pretensions.  The  first  he  pronounces  to 
Jiavc  been  the  cradle  of  eloquence.  Its  florid 
colors,  its  dazzling  splendors,  its  studied  and  la- 
borious decorations,  he  thinks  peculiarly  adapted 
to  representation,  and  not  to  action  ;  to  the  first 
essays  of  youth,  and  not  to  the  serious  labors  of 
manhood.  But  it  is  in  judicial  controversies, 
where  the  conflict  of  rights  must  be  decided  by 
the  conflict  of  talents,  that  the  manhood,  the  high- 
est energies  of  the  art,,  must  be  exerted.      Here 


112  ORIGIN  OF  ORATORY.         [lECT.  IV. 

all  the  resources  of  invention,  of  selection,  of  ar- 
rangement, of  style,  and  of  action,  must  success- 
ively be  applied,  imd  here  alone  can  the  highest 
perfection  of  the  art  be  found. 

To  professional  speakers,  the  orator  of  Cicero 
is  a  work,  which  they  should  familiarize  and  mas- 
ter, at  the  very  threshold  of  their  studies.  It  con- 
tains a  lively  image  of  what  they  ought  to  be, 
and  a  specific  indication  of  Avhat  they  ought  to 
do.  It  is  ill  many  passages  a  comment  upon  the 
writer's  own  orations.  It  points  out  the  varia- 
tions of  his  style  and  manner,  in  many  of  those 
eloquent  discourses,  and  gives  you  the  reasons, 
which  inspired  his  sublime,  indignant  vehemence 
in  the  accusation  of  Verres,  and  of  Catiline  ;  his 
temperate,  insinuating  elegance  upon  the  Manilian 
law,  and  the  solicitations  for  Lig'arius  ;  and  his 
close  and  irresistible  cogency  of  argument  in  dis- 
closing and  elucidating  the  intricate  case  of  Caeci- 
na.  I  would  particularly  recommend  it  to  those 
of  you,  who  may  hereafter  engage  in  the  profes- 
sion of  the  law,  to  read  over  these  orations,  and 
compare  the  management  of  the  cause  with  this 
account,  given  by  the  author,  of  his  motives  for 
proceeding,  as  he  did  in  each  of  them. 


iECT.  IV.]  ORIGIN   OF   ORATORY.  113 

But  to  whatever  occupation  your  future  incli- 
nations or  destinies  may  direct  you,  that  pursuit 
of  ideal  excellence,  which  constituted  the  plan  of 
Cicero's  orator,  and  the  principle  of  Cicero's  life, 
if  profoundly  meditated,  and  sincerely  adopted, 
will  prove  a  never  failing  source  of  virtue  and  of 
happiness.  I  say  profoundly  meditated,  because 
no  superficial  consideration  can  give  you  a  con- 
ception of  the  real  depth  and  extent  of  this  princi- 
ple. I  say  sincerely  adopted,  because  its  efficacy 
consists  not  in  resolutions,  much  less  in  preten- 
sions ;  but  in  action.  Its  affectation  can  only 
disclose  the  ridiculous  coxcomb,  or  conceal  the 
detestable  hypocrite  ;  nor  is  it  in  occasional,  mo- 
mentary gleams  of  virtue  and  energ\^,  preceded 
and  followed  by  long  periods  of  indulgence  or  in- 
action, that  this  sublime  principle  can  be  recog- 
nized. It  must  be  the  steady  purpose  of  a  life, 
maturely  considered,  deliberately  undertaken,  and 
inflexibly  pursued,  through  all  the  struggles  of 
human  opposition,  and  all  the  vicissitudes  of  for- 
tune. It  must  mark  the  measure  of  your  duties 
in  the  relations  of  domestic,  of  social,  and  of  pub- 
lic life.  Must  guard  from  presumption  your  rapid 
moments  of  prosperit}^,  and  nerve  with  fortitude 

your  lingering  hours  of  misfortune.       It  must 
15 


114  ORIGIN   OF  ORATORY.  [lECT.  IV. 

ininglc  ^vith  you  in  the  busy  murmurs  of  the 
city,  and  retire  in  silence  with  you  to  the  shades 
of  soHtude.  Like  hope  it  must  "  travel  through, 
nor  quit  you  when  you  die."  Your  guide  amid 
the  dissipations  of  youth  ;  your  counsellor  in  the 
toils  of  manhood  ;  your  companion  in  the  leisure 
of  declining  age.  It  must,  it  will,  irradiate  the 
diH-kness  of  dissolution  ;  will  identify  the  con- 
sciousness of  the  past  with  the  hope  of  futurity ; 
Avill  smooth  the  passage  from  this  to  a  better 
^vorld ;  and  link  the  last  pangs  of  expiring 
nature   with  the    first  rapture   of  never  ending 

joy- 

You  are  ready  to  tell  me,  that  I  am  insensibly 
wandering  from  my  subject  into  the  mazes  of 
general  morality.  In  surveying  the  character 
and  \witings  of  Cicero,  we  cannot  choose  but  be 
arrested,  at  almost  every  step  of  our  progress,  by 
some  profound  and  luminous  principle,  which 
suspends  our  attention  from  the  immediate  cause 
of  our  research,  and  leads  us  into  a  train  of  reflec- 
tions upon  itself.  Yet  these,  though  indirect,  are 
perhaps  the  fairest  illustrations  of  our  primary 
object.  In  Cicero,  more  than  in  any  other  writ- 
er, will  you  find  a  perpetual  comment  upon  the 
saying  of  Solomon,  that  "  the  sweetness  of  the 


LECT.  IV.]  ORIGIN   OF  ORATORY.  115 

lips  increaseth  learning."  Cicero  is  the  friend  ol' 
the  soul,  whom  we  can  never  meet  without  a 
gleam  of  pleasure ;  from  whom  we  can  never 
part,  but  with  reluctance.  We  have  yet  noticed 
only  two  of  his  rhetorical  works  ;  and  must  re- 
serve for  another  occasion  our  considerations  upon 
tlie  rest. 


LECTURE  V. 


CICERO   AND  HIS  RHETORICAL  WRITINGS. 


WITHIN  a  century  after  the  death  of  Cicero, 
while  his  language  was  yet  flourishing,  and  the 
events  of  his  age,  and  institutions  of  his  countr}^ 
were  in  recent  remembrance,  it  was  observed  by 
Quinctilian,  that  a  young  man,  desirous  of  ascer- 
taining his  own  proficiency  in  literary  taste,  needed 
only  to  ask  himself  how  he  relished  the  writings  of 
Cicero,  and  if  he  found  the  answer  to  be,  that  they 
highly  delighted  him,  he  might  safely  conclude 
himself  far  advanced  in  refinement.  If  this  remark 
was  then  correct,  it  must  apply  much  more  forci- 
bly to  the  self-examination  of  any  young  man  in 
our  times.  The  difficulties  to  be  vanquished, 
before  you  can  obtain  access  to  those  inestimable 


118  CICERO  AND  HIS  [lECT.  V. 

treasures,  are  incomparably  greater,  than  tliey 
Mere  in  the  age  of  Quinctihan.  The  youth  of 
that  day,  to  understand  Cicero,  needed  httle  other 
preparatory  knowledge,  than  merely  how  to  read. 
Some  little  acquaintance  with  the  histor}^  of  the 
time,  the  sources  to  which  flowed  copious  and 
frequent ;  some  little  recollection  of  republican 
habits  and  manners,  which  had  indeed  vanished 
from  practice,  but  were  fresh  in  the  memor}'  of 
all,  and  yet  lurked  in  the  wishes  of  many  ;  was  all 
the  information,  necessary  for  a  Roman  of  that 
epocha  to  master  every  page  of  Cicero.  Your 
labors  to  obtain  the  same  possession  must  be  far 
more  severe,  and  their  success  at  best  must  fall 
far  shorter  of  being  complete.  You  have  a  lan- 
guage, long  since  deceased,  to  revive  ;  you  have  a 
circumstantial  history  of  the  age  to  familiarize;  you 
have  a  course  of  painful  studies  into  the  civil,  polit- 
ical, and  military  constitution  of  the  Roman  repub- 
lic to  go  through,  before  you  can  open  an  unob- 
structed avenue  between  the  beauties  of  Cicero  and 
your  own  understandings.  How  much  more  reason 
then  must  you  ha^s^e  to  be  pleased  w  ith  your  own 
acquirements,  if  you  can  honestly  answer  it  to 
your  hearts,  that  you  are  charmed  with  the  works 
of  Cicero,  than  a  pupil  of  Quinctilian  could  have 


LECT.  V.J       RHETORICAL   WRITINGS.  llS 

from  the  same  cause  ?  Yet  I  am  not  sure,  that 
originally  the  remaik  was  very  judicious.  To  a 
Roman  in  the  age  of  Quinctilian,  methinks  the 
fondness  for  Cicero  could  not  be  so  clear  a  de- 
monstration of  an  excellent  taste,  as  the  dislike 
or  contempt  of  him  would  have  been  to  prove 
the  contrary.  Not  to  admire  liim  must  have 
shown  a  want  of  the  reason  and  feeling,  which  be- 
long to  man.  To  delight  in  him  could  indicate  on- 
ly common  sense  and  common  sensibility.  Even 
now,  my  friends,  I  doubt  not  but  many  of  you 
are  sincere  admirers  of  Cicero  ;  and  yet  I  cannot 
advise  you  to  di'aw  from  that  sentiment  any  very 
pointed  inference  of  self-complacency.  Taste 
was  never  made  to  cater  for  vanity.  I  would 
rather  recommend  it  to  you  to  turn  the  pleasure 
you  take  in  those  exquisite  compositions  to  better 
account.  Make  your  profit  of  your  pleasure  ; 
scrutinize  the  causes  of  your  enjoyments  ;  pass 
the  spirit  of  the  Roman  orator  through  the  alembic 
of  your  reason,  until  every  drop  of  its  essence 
shall  be  distinctly  perceptible  to  your  taste.  As  a 
general  hint  to  guide  you  in  this  examination,  I 
mentioned  to  you  in  my  last  lecture  the  distin- 
guishing characteristics  of  his  two  principal  rhe- 
torical treatises.      I  told  you,  that  the  dialogues 


120  CICERO   AN'D   HIS  [lECT.  V. 

dc  oratore  contained  an  analytical  decomposition 
of  the  art  of  public  sj^eaking,  while  the  orator  put 
together  the  same  precepts,  to  exhibit  them  in 
the  person  of  a  perfect  speaker.      But  instruction 
is  to  be  derived  as  much,  perhaps  more,  from  ex- 
ample, than  from   precept ;    and  Cicero  has  also 
availed  himself  of  this  process  for  the  illustration 
of  his  favorite  art.      The  treatise,  which  bears  the 
the  double  title   of  Brutus  and  de  claris  oratori- 
bus,  contains,  as  this  latter  title  imports,  a  sum- 
mary review  of  all  the  famous  orators,  Greek  and 
Roman,  until  his  own  time.     In  form  it  partakes 
both  of  the  didactic  manner,  in  which  the  author 
speaks  in  his  own  person,  and  of  the  dialogue, 
where  interlocutors  are  formally  introduced.    The 
Brutus  is  a  narrative  of  a  dialogue,  or  conversation 
between  the  orator  and  his  friends,  Atticus  and 
Brutus ;  for  it  is  not  immaterial  to  observe  how 
Cicero,  in  writing  so  many  works  upon  the  same 
general  subject,  has  given  to  his  discussions  the 
charm   of   variety.       The   Brutus  is  a  practical 
commentary  upon,  the  dialogues  and  the  orator. 
In  examining  the  several  excellencies  and  defects 
of  the  most  renowned  Greek  and  Roman  speak- 
ers, the  true  principles  of  eloquence  are  naturally 
unfolded.     But  it  is  further  valuable,  as  it  teaches 


LECT.  v.]       RHETORICAL   WRITIIfGS.  12l 

the  principles  of  rhetorical  criticism  ;  the  art  of 
appreciating  the  real  merits  of  a  public  speaker. 
The  natural  graces  of  simplicity,  the  splendor  of 
omamented  diction,  the  elegance  and  purity  of  a 
correct  style,  the  charms  of  urbanit}-,  the  stings  of 
ingenious  sju'casm  and  raillery,  are  exhibited  in 
the  shape  of  historical  proof.  Specific  instances 
are  produced  of  temperate  insinuations,  of 
strength,  of  vehemence,  of  dignity,  of  copious 
facility,  of  fertile  invention,  discerning  selection  of 
argument,  novelty  of  expression,  art  in  the  choice 
and  arrangement  of  words,  readiness  of  action, 
quickness  of  rapartee,  skilful  digression,  and  the 
rare  talent  of  the  pathetic,  are  held  up  to  admiration 
with  tlie  force  of  example.  And  as  the  detection 
of  faults  is  no  less  instructive  to  the  student,  than 
the  display  of  beauties,  in  rendering  all  justice  to 
the  perfections  of  the  illustrious  orators,  Cicero 
has  not  been  blind  to  their  blemishes.  Boldness 
of  invention,  barrenness  of  fancy,  affectation,  sin- 
gularity, treacheries  of  memory,  hea^  iness,  care- 
lesncss,  exaggerations,  awkwardness,  penury  of 
thought,  meanness  of  expression,  and  many  other 
imperfections,  occasionally  pass  through  the  orde- 
al, and  never  escape  the  discriminating  and  accu- 
rate judgment  of  Cicero.  The  acuteness  and 
'     '      '         16 


122  CICERO    AND  HIS  [lECT.  V. 

variety  of  his  remaiks  arc  adorned  by  the  liveli- 
ness of  his  manner,  and  embellished  with  that 
richness  of  fancy,  and  glow  of  coloring,  which 
mark  every  production  of  his  pen. 

There  is  in  this  work  a  very  perceptible  par- 
tiality, favorable  to  his  own  countrymen.  He  be- 
stows upon  them  a  much  larger  share  of  atten- 
tion ;  extends  greater  indulgence  to  their  faults, 
luid  warms  with  more  fervent  admiration  at  their 
excellencies,  than  he  is  vv^illing  to  bestow  upon 
the  Greeks.  He  acknowledges  elsewhere  this 
predilection,  and  ascribes  it  partly  to  his  national 
feelings,  and  partly  to  the  wish  of  stimulating 
them  by  commendation  to  superior  excellence. 
But  all  these  sentiments  are  subordinate  to  Iiis 
enthusiasm  for  the  transcendent  merit  of  Demos- 
thenes. 

The  Brutus  concludes  with  two  parallels.  The 
lirst  between  the  eloquence  of  Antonius  and  that  of 
Crassus;  the  two  principal  interlocutors  of  the 
dialogues  de  oratore;  and  the  other  between  Cice- 
ro himself  and  his  rival,  Hortensius.  We  have 
none  of  the  writings  of  Antonius  or  of  Crassus 
left,  upon  which  we  can  form  an  opinion  of  Cice- 
ro's accuracy  in  the  comparison  between  them  ; 
we  must  take  it  upon  the  credit  of  his  general  cor- 


LECT.  v.]       RHETORICAL   WRITINGS.  123 

rectness  and  abilitj-.     He  speaks  of  them  in  terms 
probably  more  favorable,  than  the  judgment  of 
posterity  would  have  confirmed ;  and  as  for  Hor- 
tensius,  it  is  praise  enough  for  him  to  ha^  e  been 
remembered  for  twenty  centuries,  as  the  antago- 
nist of  Cicero.     But  the  view,  in  which  this  last 
parallel   may  be   turned  to  advantage  by   us,   is 
the  signal  example,  which  it  furnishes,  of  industr}- 
triumphant  over  indolence.      In  point  of  natural 
genius,  Hortensius  was  f>erhaps  not  inferior  to  his 
great  competitor.      But  it  is  from  the  example  of 
Cicero's  life,  that  tlie  only  means  of  obtaining  un- 
rivalled excellence  is  to  be  learnt.     The  diirst  for 
distinction,  as  an  orator,  was  felt  by  Cicero  from 
his  very  childhood.      He  frequented  assiduously 
all   the    scenes  of  public  speaking,   and  listened 
with  eager  avidity  to  the  eminent  orators  of  the 
age.     He  was  continually  reading,  writing,  medi- 
tating upon  this  favorite  pursuit.     He  sought   in 
struction  in  jurisprudence  from  Scevola,  in  phi- 
losophy from  Philo,  the  Athenian,  in  oratory  from 
Molon  of  Rhodes,  in  logic  from  Diodotus,  tlie 
Stoic ;  associating  witl\  the  study  of  rhetoric  a  close 
application  to  every  branch  of  learning,  connected 
with  it,  and  composing  by  turns,  both  in  the  Greek 
iuid  Latin  languages,  according  as  the  attendance 
upon  his  several  instructers  required. 


124  CICERO  AND  HIS  [lECT.  V. 

After  a  long  and  imrcmitting  course  of  prd 
paration  like  this,  he  made  his  first  appearance  at 
die  bar ;  and  in  his  oration  for  Rosciiis  of  Ameria, 
delivered  in  his  twenty  seventh  year,  unfolded 
those  wonderful  powers,  which  were  to  make 
him  the  glory  of  his  own  age,  and  the  admiration 
of  all  succeeding  times.  His  constitution  was 
naturally  feeble,  and  had  probably  sufiered  by  the 
intenseness  of  his  application.  His  friends  and 
physicians  advised  him  to  abandon  the  profession, 
and  sacrifice  his  hope  of  glory  to  his  health.  But 
these  were  not  counsels  for  the  soul  of  Gicero. 
With  the  genuine,  inflexible  enthusiasm  of  genius, 
he  resolved  to  persevere  in  his  high  career,  though 
it  should  cost  him  his  life.  With  the  united 
view  however  of  recovering  his  health  and  enlarg- 
ing the  sphere  of  his  improvement,  he  visited 
Greece  and  Asia  Minor.  He  spent  six  months 
at  Athens,  during  which  he  went  through  a  re- 
newed course  of  moral  pliilosophy,  and  of  me- 
chanical oraLprical  exercises,  under  Demetrius 
Syrus.  Thence  he  travelled  over  Asia,  never 
losing  an  opportunity  to  hear  the  public  speakers, 
pclebrated  tliroughout  those  regions.  On  his  re- 
turn he  made  some  stay  in  the  island  of  Rhodes, 
where  he  took  further  lessons  of  practice  from  hi^ 


JLgCT.  v.]       RHETORICAL   WRITINGS.  125 

old  instiuctcr,  Melon,  whom  he  eulogizes  for 
friendly  severity,  in  remarking  his  faults.  At  the 
expiration  of  two  years  he  returned  to  Rome  ;  his 
health  confirmed,  and  every  faculty  impro-sed  by 
the  labors  of  his  absence.  He  was  very  soon 
sent,  as  quaestor,  into  Sicily,  and  there  widi  un- 
wearied industry  continued  his  rhetorical  stud- 
ies ;  so  that  he  was  qualified  to  display  the  full 
blaze  of  his  talents  in  his  accusation  of  Vcrrcs. 

Hortensius  was  then  without  a  riviil  at  the 
bar.  He  had  attained  the  highest  official  honors 
of  the  republic.  Among  the  characters  of  his 
own  age  and  standing,  he  knew  there  was  none 
able  to  contest  the  first  rank  in  oratory  with  him  ; 
and  he  had  no  suspicion,  that  a  younger  man  was 
arising  to  \vTest  the  prize  from  his  hands.  The 
relaxation  so  naturally  consequent  upon  success, 
the  desire  quiet)}'  to  enjoy  the  fruits  of  his  former 
labors,  rendered  him  indolent  and  careless.  Cice- 
ro continued  persevering  and  indefatigable.  In 
less  dian  three  years  the  reputation  of  Hortensius 
began,  among  competent  judges,  to  dechne;  and  it 
was  not  much  longer,  before  the  waning  of  his  fame 
was  perceptible  to  the  multitude.  By  the  time, 
when  Cicero  obtained  the  consular  dignity,  Horten- 
sius was  almost  forgotten  ;  and  although  roused  to 


126  CICERO   AND   HIS  [lECT.  V. 

• 

transient  exertions  by  the  swelling  celebrity  of 
his  new  competitor,  he  was  never  able  to  recover 
that  leading  and  commanding  station,  which  he 
had  so  long  enjoyed  undisputed  ;  but  which, 
once  outstripped  by  his  more  active  successor,  he 
had  lost  forever. 

Cicero  had  never  indulged  himself  with  an 
hour  of  relaxation.  His  only  intermissions  were 
from  one  stud}^  to  another ;  or  from  study  to 
practice,  and  from  practice  to  study.  Nothing, 
that  could  promote  his  great  purpose,  was  by  him 
neglected,  or  overlooked.  He  labored  all  his 
compositions  with  anxious  vigilance.  He  follow- 
ed up  his  practice  at  the  bar  with  exemplary  as- 
siduity. He  introduced  a  new  style  and  charac- 
ter into  his  discourses.  His  hearers  fancied 
diemscives  in  a  new  world.  Until  then  they  had 
heard  talk  of  eloquence.  He  made  them  feel  the 
powers,  of  ^vhich  they  had  only  heard.  His  ora- 
tions commanded  undivided  admiration,  because 
they  soared  far  above  the  possibility  of  imitation 
by  any  of  his  cotemporaries.  Not  one  of  the 
public  speakers  in  repute  had  any  extent  of  at- 
tinnmcnt  in  literature,  the  inexhaustible  fountain 
of  eloquence ;  nor  in  philosophy,  the  parent  of 
moral  refinement ;    nor  in  the  laws  municipal  or 


LECT.  v.]       RHETORICAL   WRITINGS.  127 

national,  so  indispensable  to  all  solid  eloquence  at 
the  bar  ;  nor  in  histoiy,  which  makes  all  the  ex- 
perience of  ancient  days  tributary  to  the  wisdom 
of  our  own.  They  had  neither  the  strength  of 
logic,  that  key-stone  to  the  arch  of  persuasion  ; 
nor  its  subtlety  to  perplex,  and  disconcert  an  op- 
ponent. They  knew  neither  how  to  ei^liven  a 
discussion  by  strokes  of  wit  and  humor,  nor  how 
to  interweave  the  merits  of  the  question  with  the 
facts  of  the  cause  ;  nor  how  to  relieve  tcdiousness 
by  a  seasonable  and  pertinent  digression;  nor 
finally  to  enlist  the  passions  and  feelings  of  their 
auditors  on  their  side. 

Cicero  does  not  tell  us,  that  he  himself  pos- 
sessed all  these  qualities,  in  which  the  other  barris- 
ters of  his  time  were  so  deficient.  He  leaves  the 
inference  to  those,  who  had  heard,  and  those,  who 
should  read  him.  The  critical  examination  of  his 
judicial  discourses  is  his  unanswerable  evidence  oi 
the  fact,  and  that  evidence  is  happily  still  in  our 
possession.  This  is  that  basis  of  adamant,  upon 
which  his  reputation  arose,  while  that  of  Horten- 
sius  was  crumbling  into  dust.  Unfortunately  for 
him  another  circumstance  concurred  to  its  deca}  . 
He  had  addicted  himself  to  the  Asiatic  style  of 
oratory ;  a  style  more  suitable  to  the  airy  vivacity  o^ 


128  CICERO   AND   HIS  [lECT.   Vi 

youth,  than  to  the  grave  and  dignified  energy  of 
years  and  station.  Hortensius  wanted  either  the 
ability  or  the  attention  to  vary  his  style  in  con- 
formity to  the  clianges  in  his  situation ;  and  the 
same  glitter,  which  had  given  him  fame  in  youth, 
served  but  to  expose  liis  age  to  censure  and  de- 
rision. 

Such  is  the  parallel,  which,  long  after  the 
death  of  Hortensius,  Cicero  drew  to  exhibit  the 
relation  between  himself  and  the  most  powerful 
oratorical  competitor,  with  whom  he  ever  had  to 
contend.  It  is  interesting,  as  it  introduces  so 
much  of  his  own  biography ;  and  useful,  as  it  fur- 
nishes so  striking  a  commentaiy  upon  the  maxim, 
that  indefatigable  industry  is  as  essential  to  the 
preservation,  as  to  the  attainment  of  eminence. 

The  little  dissertation  de  optimo  genere  ora- 
torum,  of  the  best  kind  of  orators,  was  only  the 
preface  to  a  translation,  which  Cicero  made  and 
published,  of  the  two  orations  for  the  crown ;  of 
Demosthenes  and  Eschines.  The  rigorous  critics 
,  at  Rome  had  censured  Cicero  himself,  as  inclin- 
ing too  much  to  the  Asiatic  style ;  and  the  tribe  of 
small  writers,  and  talkers,  and  thinkers,  whose 
glory  consisted  in  finding  something  to  blame  in 
Cicero,   armed  with  their  watchword  the  Attic 


LECT.  v.]       RHETORICAL  WRITINGS.  129 

Style,  delighted  in  cavilling  at  every  excursion  of 
fancy,  and  every  splendid  ornament,  which  the 
active  and  elegant  mind  of  Cicero  so  profusely 
lavished  in  most  of  his  orations.  To  give  this 
censure  greater  weight,  they  drove  the  principles 
of  their  Atticism  into  its  remotest  boundai'iej, 
and  affected  to  consider  the  plain,  unseasoned 
simplicity  of  Lysias,  as  holding  forth  its  most 
perfect  model.  By  way  of  self-defence,  Cicero 
published  the  master  pieces  of  the  two  great  rival 
Athenians,  and  in  this  preface  directed  the  atten- 
tion of  his  countrymen  to  them,  as  to  the  genuine 
models  of  Atticism.  And  this  he  contends  is 
marked,  not  by  the  unvarying  use  of  the  plain 
style,  Vvhich  becomes  tiresome  by  its  monotony 
and  its  barrenness,  but  by  the  alternate  mixture  and 
judicious  application  of  the  sublime  and  interme- 
diate with  the  simple  style,  of  which  the  orations 
for  the  crown  display  the  brightest  example. 
The  translation  is  lost.  But  this  preface  was  in- 
cluded by  himself  in  a  general  collection  of  his 
rhetorical  works,  and  the  two  orations  aie  happily 
yet  extant  in  their  original  language. 

The  topics  are  a  short  essay  upon  a  part  of 
the  oratorical  art,  much  esteemed  among  the  an- 
cients, but  which  in  modem   times   have  fallen 
17 


130  CICERO   AND  HIS  [lECT.  V* 

into  great  discredit.  I  shall  upon  some  future  occa- 
sion give  you  at  large  my  own  opinion  concerning 
them,  and  endeavour  to  explain  them  to  you  in 
sucli  a  manner,  as  shall  enable  you  to  judge  of 
them  for  yourselves.  The  ^^'^ork  of  Cicero  is  re- 
markable, as  having  been  written  in  the  hurry 
and  bustle  of  a  sea- voyage,  ^vhcn  the  author  had 
no  access  to  the  book  of  Aristotle,  from  which  it 
is  abstracted.  It  is  addi'essed  to  Trebatius,  a 
lawyer  and  familiar  friend  of  Cicero,  and  to  whom 
many  of  his  most  amusing  letters  in  the  collection 
of  his  epistles  were  written. 

The  oratorical  partitions  are  a  short  elemen- 
tary compendium,  written  in  the  form  of  a  dia- 
logue between  Cicero  and  his  son  ;  in  which,  by 
way  of  question  and  answer,  all  the  divisions  and 
subdivisions  of  the  rhetorical  science  are  clearly 
and  succinctly  pointed  out.  It  is  altogether  pre- 
ceptiA'c,  barely  containing  the  rules,  without  any 
illustration  from  example.  It  is  a  system  of  rhet- 
oric in  the  abstract. 

All  the  writings  of  Cicero,  which  I  have  hith- 
erto enumerated,  were  composed  in  the  latter  part 
of  his  life,  when  the  vigor  of  his  genius  ^vas  ma- 
tured by  long  and  successful  experience.  There 
are  two  others,  less  valuable,  but  of  which  it  i^ 


iECT.  v.]       RHETORICAL  WRITINGS.  131 

proper  some  notice  should  be  taken.  The  one 
has  come  to  us  in  an  imperfect  state.  It  was 
originally  in  four  books,  only  two  of  which  still 
remain.  Their  title  would  indicate,  that  they 
treated  only  of  invention  ;  but  their  intent  ^^•as  to 
comprise  a  complete  system  of  rhetoric.  Tlie\- 
were  however  a  mere  juvenile  exercise,  compiled 
from  the  Greek  rhetoricians  for  his  own  use  ;  and 
surreptitiously  published  at  a  later  period  of  his 
life,  when  his  name  was  sufficient  to  confer  celeb- 
rity upon  any  thing.  In  his  dialogues  de  oratore 
he  mentions  them  himself,  as  a  mere  boyish 
study  ;  and  complains  of  their  publication  with- 
out his  consent. 

The  other  is  a  system  of  rhetoric  in  four 
books,  addressed  to  Herinnius,  published  in  all 
the  general  editions  of  Cicero's  works,  but  in  all 
probability  not  written  by  him.  The  internal 
evidence  is  at  least  very  strong  against  its  legiti- 
mate descent.  It  was  ingeniously  said  among 
the  Greeks,  that  it  would  be  as  easy  to  wrest  the 
club  from  the  hand  of  Hercules,  as  to  pilfer  a  line 
from, Homer,  without  detection.  By  a  like  rea- 
son, you  might  as  well  put  a  distaff  into  the 
hand  of  Hercules,  and  call  it  his  club,  as  call  this 
a  work  of  Cicero,  because  it  is  bound  up  with 


132  CICERO  AND  HIS  [^LECT.  V, 

his  works.  Not  that  it  is  a  despicable  perform- 
ance. The  language  is  pure  ;  the  style  not  un- 
pleasant. As  a  compilation  from  Aristotle  and 
Hermogenes,  set  forth  in  classical  Latin,  and  with 
u  \  ery  good  method,  it  may  be  perused  widi  prof- 
it. But  the  manner  is  dry  and  barren ;  totally 
stripped  oi  Cicero's  copious  exuberance.  Cornifi- 
cius,  to  whom  it  has  generally  been  ascribed,  or 
whoever  was  the  author,  appears  rather  in  the 
form  of  a  grammarian  or  logician,  tliau  of  a  rhet- 
orician. Never  in  a  single  instance  does  he  rise 
to  that  of  an  orator.  Comificius  is  always 
a  precise,  correct,  cold  schoolmaster ;  Cicero 
never  ceases  to  be  the  eloquent  speaker.  Cornifir 
cius  chills  you,  as  he  instructs ;  Cicero  warms 
you,  as  he  teaches.  From  Cornificius  you  may 
learn  the  theorj'-  of  rhetoric  ;  from  Cicero  you 
must  learn  by  feeling  the  practice  of  the  art. 

I  cannot  conclude  this  account  of  the  rhetoric- 
al writings  of  Cicero,  without  once  more  urging 
upon  your  attention  all  the  A\'orks,  as  w  ell  as  the 
life  and  character  of  this  extraordinary  man. 
When  you  have  dilated  your  understanding  to 
the  full  conception  of  his  merit,  you  will  learn 
from  his  history  the  process,  by  which  it  was  ac- 
C|uired»     He  lived  ixt  the  most  eventful  period, 


LECT.  v.]       ItHETORICAL  WHITINGS.  133 

recorded  in  the  aniials  of  the  world,  and  contrib- 
uted more,  than  any  other  man,  to  its  splendor. 
In  a  republic,  \vhere  it  liad  been  observed,  that 
the  distinction  of  ranks  was  more  strongly 
marked,  than  in  any  other  nation  under  the  sun, 
he  rose,  on  the  sole  foundation  of  personal  merit, 
against  all  the  influence  and  ojiposition  of  the 
proudest  of  all  aristocracies,  not  only  to  the  high- 
est official  honors  and  dignities,  but  to  a  distinc- 
tion, never  attained  by  any  other  mortal  man.  To 
be  proclaimed  by  the  voice  of  Rome,  "  free 
Rome,"  the  father  of  his  country. 

Roma  parentem, 
Roma  pattern  patriae  Ciceronem,  libera  dixit. 


JUV.   Vlll. 


Compared  to  this  how  mean  and  despicable  were 
all  the  triumphs  of  Ceasar,  "  the  world's  great 
master  and  his  own."  How  small,  how  diminu- 
tive is  the  ambition  of  that  soul,  which  can  be 
satisfied  with  a  conquest  of  the  world  by  fcrce, 
or  with  a  mastery  over  itself  so  partial,  as  to  be 
only  a  composition  with  crime,  a  half-way  forbear- 
ance from  the  extreme  of  guilt,  compared  with 
the  sublime  purposes  of  that  mind,  which,  not  by 
the  brutal  and  foul  contest  of  arras,  but  bv  the 


134  CICERO  AND   HIS  [lECT.  V. 

soul-subduing  poAver  of  eloquence  and  of  virtue, 
conquers  time,  as  well  as  space  ;  not  the  world  of 
one  short  lived  generation,  but  the  world  of  a 
hundred  centuries ;  which  masters,  not  only  one 
nation  of  cotemporaries,  but  endless  ages  of  civil- 
ized man,  and  undiscovered  regions  of  the  globe. 
These  are  the  triumphs,  which  Ceasar,  and  men 
like  Ceasai',  never  can  obtain.  They  are  reserved 
for  more  exalted  conquerors.  These  are  the 
palms  of  heroic  peace.  These  are  the  everlast- 
ing laurels,  destined  for  better  uses,  than  to  con- 
ceal the  baldness  of  a  Caesar,  destined  to  be  twin- 
ed, as  a  never  fading  wreath,  around  the  temples 
of  Cicero. 

As  an  orator,  the  concurring  suffrage  of  two 
thousand  years  has  given  him  a  name  above  all 
other  names,  save  only  that  of  Demosthenes.  As 
a  rhetorician,  we  have  seen,  that  he  is  unrivalled 
by  the  union  of  profound  science  with  elegant 
taste  ;  by  the  extent,  the  compass,  the  variety  of 
the  views,  in  which  he  has  exhibited  the  theory  of 
his  favorite  art  ;  by  that  enchanting  fascination, 
with  which  he  allures  the  i^tudent  into  the  deserted 
benches  of  the  Grecian  schools.  His  correspond- 
ence with  Atticus  and  his  other  familiar  friends 
contains  the  most  authentic  and  interesting  mate- 


LECT.  v.]       RHETORICAL  WRITINGS.  135 

rials  for  the  history  of  his  age.  His  letters  intro- 
duce j^ou  at  once  into  his  domestic  intimacy,  and 
to  a  familiar  acquaintance  with  all  the  distinguished 
characters  of  an  era,  which  seems  to  have  spurned 
the  usual  boundaries  of  human  existence,  and  des- 
tined in  the  memor}-  of  mankind  to  live  forever. 
But  those  same  letters  are  the  most  perfect  models 
of  epistolary  style,  that  the  world  has  ever  seen  ; 
and  such  is  the  variety  of  the  subjects,  they  em- 
brace, that  the  student  may  find  in  them  finished  • 
examples  of  the  most  perfect  manner,  in  which  a 
letter  can  be  written,  from  the  complimentary  card 
of  introduction  to  the  dispatch,  which  details  the 
destinies  of  empires. 

His  philosophical  writings  make  us  acquainted 
with  the  most  celebrated  speculations  of  antiquit}' 
upon  those  metaphysical  topics,  which,  unless  fix- 
ed by  the  everlasting  pillars  of  divine  revelation, 
will  forever  torture  human  reason,  and  elude  hu- 
man ingenuity.  On  the  nature  of  the  gods,  on 
the  iDoundaries  of  good  and  evil,  on  those  moral 
paradoxes,  which  Milton  has  represented,  as  con- 
stituting at  once  the  punishment  and  the  solace  oi' 
the  fallen  angels  in  Pandemonium,  Cicero  enter- 
tains us  in  lively  language,  dignified  by  judicious 
rcflectionsj  with  all  the  eccentric  ^'agaries  of  the 


136  CICERO  AND  HIS  [LECt.  V* 

ancient  philosophers,   who,  like  those  rebellious 
spirits, 

"  Found  no  end  in  wandering  mazes  lost." 

But  the  most  amiable  and  warmest  coloring, 
jn  which  the  character  of  Cicero  presents  itself  to 
the  eye  of  contemplation,  is  as  a  moralist.  With 
what  a  tender  and  delicate  sensibility  has  he  de- 
lineated the  pleasures  and  prescribed  the  duties 
of  friendship  !  With  what  a  sootliing  and  benefi- 
cent hand  has  he  extended  the  consolations  of 
virtue  to  the  declining  enjoyments  and  waxing 
infirmities  of  old  age  !  With  what  all  vivifying 
energy  has  he  showered  the  sunshine  of  virtue 
upon  the  frosty  winter  of  life  !  His  book  of 
offices  should  be  the  manucl  of  every  republican  ; 
nay  it  should  be  the  pocket  and  the  pillow  com- 
panion of  every  man,  desiring  to  discipline  his 
heart  to  the  love  and  the  practice  of  every  virtue. 
There  you  will  find  the  most  perfect  system  of 
morals,  ever  promulgated  before  the  glad  tidings 
of  Christianity.  There  you  will  find  a  valuable 
and  congenial  supplement,  even  to  the  sublime 
precepts  of  the  gospel. 

It  is  not  then  to  the  students  of  eloquence 
alone,  that  the  character  and  the  writings  of  Cicero 


LECT.  v.]       RHETORICAL   WRITINGS.  137 

ought  to  be  dear.  He  is  the  instructer  of  every 
profession  ;  the  friend  of  every  age.  Make  him 
the  intimate  of  your  youth,  and  you  will  find 
him  the  faithful  and  incorruptible  companion  of 
your  whole  life.  In  every  variety  of  this  mutable 
scene,  you  will  find  him  a  pleasing  and  instruct- 
ive associate.  His  numerous  and  inveterate  ene- 
mies, while  he  lived,  solaced  the  consciousness  of 
their  own  inferiority,  by  sneering  at  his  vanity, 
and  deriding  his  excessive  love  of  glory.  Yes, 
he  had  that  last  infirmity  of  noble  minds  !  Yes, 
glory  was  the  idol  of  his  worship.  His  estima- 
tion of  mankind  over-rated  the  value  of  their 
applause.  His  estimation  of  himself  is  not  liable 
to  the  same  censure.  His  most  exulting  mo- 
ments of  self-complacency  never  transcended, 
never  equalled  his  real  worth.  He  had  none  of 
that  affected  humility,  none  of  that  disqualifying 
hypocrisy,  which  makes  virtue  consist  in  con- 
cealment, and  indulges  unbomided  vanity  at  the 
heart,  on  the  single  condition  of  imposing  silence 
upon  the  lips.  As  he  thought  of  himself,  so  he 
spake,  and  without  hesitation  claimed  the  appro- 
bation of  the  world  for  talents  and  virtues,  w  hich 
he  \vould  haA'c  celebrated  with  ten-fold  magnifi- 
cence of  panegyric  in  others.  To  his  cotempo- 
18 


138  CICERO  &.C.  [lect.  v» 

raries  let  us  admit,  that  the  sense  of  his  immeas- 
urable superiority  was  of  itself  sufficiently  our- 
densomc,  without  the  aggravation  of  hearing  his 
encomium  £iom  himself.  But  to  the  modem 
detractors  of  his  fame  it  may  be  justly  replied, 
that  his  failings  leaned  to  virtue's  side  ;  that  his 
heaviest  vices  might  put  to  the  blush  their  choic- 
est virtues.  Of  his  own  age  and  nation  he  was 
unquestionably  the  brightest  ornament.  But  he 
is  the  philosopher,  the  orator,  the  moralist  of  all 
time,  and  of  every  region.  A  modern  poet  has 
beautifully  said,  that  it  is 

"  Praise  enough 
"  To  fill  the  ambition  of  a  common  man, 
"  That  Chatham's  language  was  his  mother  tongue, 
"  And  Wolfe's  great  name  compatriot  with  his  own." 

But  in  contemplating  a  character,  like  this,  we 
may  joy  in  a  more  enlarged  and  juster  application 
of  the  same  sentiment.  Let  us  malce  this  the 
standard  of  moral  and  intellectual  worth,  for  all 
human  kind ;  and  in  the  reply  to  all  the  severities 
of  satire,  and  all  the  bitterness  of  misanthropy, 
repeat  with  conscious  exultation,  "  we  are  of  the 
same  species  of  beings,  as  Cicero." 


LECTURE  VI. 


INSTITUTES  AND  CHARACTER  OF  QUINCTILIAN. 


IN  a  former  lecture,  you  may  remember,  lliat 
I  noticed  a  remarkable  difterence  between  the 
history  of  rhetoric  in  Greece  and  at  Rome  ;  and 
observed,  that  in  the  former  eloquence  appeared 
to  have  been  the  twin-sister  to  history,  while  in  the 
latter  she  api^ears  to  have  been  the  child  of  the 
republic's  old  age,  at  first  discarded,  long  banish- 
ed, but  finally  adopted,  and  rising  to  the  most  un- 
bounded influence  in  the  person  of  Cicero.  But 
the  duration  of  the  period,  in  which  rhetoric  AAas 
cultivated,  is  equally  remarkable  in  Greece  b}'  its 
length,  and  in  Rome  by  its  shortness.  Fn^m 
Pittheus  to  Longinus,  the  two  extremes  in  the 
chronology  of  the  Greek  rlietoricians,  you  per-- 


140  CHARACTER   Of  [lECT.  VI. 

cei\'e  a  line  of  more  tliaii  thirteen  hundred  years, 
filled  with  a  catalogue  of  writers,  distinguished  by 
their  numbers,  as  well  as  by  their  ingenuity.  At 
Rome  we  have  seen  die  science  began  with  Cice- 
ro. It  ended  with  Quinctilian.  These  tAvo 
writers  lived  within  one  hundred  }'ears  of  each 
other ;  and  in  them  alone  are  we  to  seek  for  all, 
that  Roman  literature  can  furnish  to  elucidate  the 
science  of  rhetoric.  Their  WTitings  may  indeed, 
in  point  of  real  value,  contend  for  the  prize  with 
the  more  copious  stores  of  Greece  ;  and  if  a 
complete  system  were  to  be  collected  exclusively 
from  the  one  or  the  other  language,  it  would  per- 
haps be  difficult  to  say  which  would  be  most  re- 
luctantly given  up,  the  Grecian  numbers,  or  the 
Roman  weight.  Of  the  Greek  rhetoricians  I 
have  given  you  an  account,  a  very  lame  and  im- 
perfect one  indeed,  in  a  single  lecture  ;  while  the 
writings  of  Cicero  alone,  on  this  theme,  have 
already  occupied  two ;  and  I  now  purpose  to  de- 
vote another  to  the  institutes  and  the  character  of 
Quinctilian. 

It  will  however  be  proper  previously  to  notice 
a  collection  of  declamations,  under  the  title  of 
controversies  and  deliberations,  different  from 
tliose,  which  bear  the  name  of  Quinctilian,  and 


LECT.  VI.]  q^UINCTILIAN.  141 

published  as  the  compilation  of  Seneca.  Not  of 
Seneca,  the  philosopher,  the  preceptor,  the  accom- 
plice, and  the  victim  of  Nero  ;  but  another  Sene- 
ca, generally  supposed  to  be  his  father,  and  a 
native  of  Cordova  in  Spain.  This  collection  was 
not  of  his  own  composition  ;  but  collected  from 
upwards  of  one  hundred  writers,  and  accompanied 
by  the  critical  remarks  of  the  editor. 

The  practice  of  declamation  among  the  an- 
cients was  deemed  of  so  much  importance,  it  was 
so  different  from  that  exercise,  bearing  the  same 
name,  to  which  you  are  accustomed,  it  was  at 
one  period  so  useful  in  promoting  the  improve- 
ment, and  at  another  so  pernicious  in  hastening 
the  corruption  of  eloquence,  that  it  will  be  "proper 
to  give  you  a  short  historical  account  of  its  rise, 
progress,  and  perversion. 

There  has  been  some  controversy,  by  whom 
it  was  first  introduced  ;  nor  is  it  of  much  impor- 
tance to  ascertain  whether  its  inventor  were  Gor- 
gias,  the  celebrated  sophist,  or  Eschines,  who,  after 
his  banishment  from  Athens,  opened  a  school  of 
oratory  in  tlie  island  of  Rhodes,  or  Demetrius 
Phalereus,  the  last  of  the  Attic  orators.  It  is 
more  generally  agreed  to  ha^  e  been  introduced  at 
Rome  by  Plotius,  the  first  teacher  of  rhetoric  in 


142  CHARACTER   or  [lECT.  VI. 

the  Latin  language  ;  and  was  practised  constiuitl}', 
by  most  of  the  Roman  orators,  from  the  age  of 
Cicero  to  that  of  Quinctilian.  These  declama- 
tions were  composed  and  delivered  by  the  same 
person ;  wliich  rendered  them  a  much  more  la- 
borious, but  at  the  same  time  a  much  more  im- 
proving exercise,  than  that  of  repeating  the  com- 
positions of  others.  They  were  suited,  by  their 
gradations  of  difficulty,  to  the  degrees  of  proficien- 
cy, which  the  student  had  attained.  They  began 
with  short  themes  upon  any  topic,  selected  at 
pleasure,  simiiai'  to  those,  upon  which  you  some- 
times exercise  your  ingenuity.  From  this  the 
progress  was  to  controverted  questions,  resem- 
bling M'hat  we  now  call  forensic  disputes ;  and 
finally  a  fictitious  narrative  or  fable  was  invent- 
ed, to  raise  upon  its  events  a  moral,  political, 
or  legal  question,  .cither  simple  or  complicated, 
for  discussion.  Thus  you  perceive,  that  what 
they  called  declamation  rather  resembled  our  per- 
formances at  commencements  and  at  the  public 
exhibitions,  than  that  repetition  of  the  writings 
of  others,  to  which  our  practice  limits  the  original 
name.  Its  advantages  were  much  greater,  inas- 
much as  it  was  an  exercise  of  invention,  as  well  as 
of  delivery,  and  shai-j^ened  the  faculties  of  the 


LECT.  VI.]  QUINCTILIAN.  143 

mind,  while  it  gave  ease  and  confidence  to  that 
mechanical  operation,  which  Cicero  lias  called  the 
eloquence  of  the  body. 

Of  the  importance  given   to   this  exercise, 
during  the   splendid  era  of  Roman  oratory,  you 
may   form  an  opinion  from  the   unquestionable 
fact,  that  it  was  practised  by  Cicero,   not  only 
while  a  student,  before  his  appearance  at  the  bar, 
but  throughout  his  whole  life.      In  the  midst  of 
that  splendid  and  active  career,  when  the  fate  of 
the  Roman  empire  and  of  the  world  was  at  his 
control,  he  continued  the  custom  of  declaiming 
himself,   and  of  assisting  at  tlie  declamations  of 
men,  as  far  advanced  in  years,  and  as  highly  ex- 
alted in  dignity  ;    such  as   Pompey  and  Piso  ; 
Hirtius  and  Pansa  ;  Crassus  and  Dolabella.    Nay, 
so  essential  was   this  discipline  to  ever\'  public 
speaker  of  that  age,  that  even  Mark  Anthony,  the 
luxurious,  the  dissolute  Mark  Anthony,  prepared 
himself,   by    constant    declamation,    to    contend 
ag-ainst  the  divine  philippics  of  his  adversary  ;  and 
Augustus  Caesar,  during  the  war  of  Modena,  in 
that  final  struggle  for  the  dominion  of  the  world, 
learned,  by  assiduous  declamation,  to  achieve  no- 
bler victories,  than  he  could  obtain  by  all  tlic  vet- 
eran legions  of  his  father.      A\''hen  the  revolution 


144  CHARACTER  OF  [lECT.  VI. 

in  government  liad  destroyed  tlie  freedom  of 
speech,  the  practice  of  declamation  was  still  pur- 
sued, but  underwent  a  corresponding  change  of 
character.  Dignified  thought,  independent  spirit, 
bold  and  commanding  sentiment,  then  became 
only  avenues  to  the  scaffold.  Declamation  was 
still  valued^  but  soon  changed  its  character.  In- 
stead of  leading  the  student  to  the  art  of  persua- 
sion, it  taught  him  the  more  useful  lesson  of  con- 
cealment, the  safer  doctrine  of  disguise.  .  The 
themes  of  declamation  were  studiously  stripped 
of  every  thing,  that  could  bear  a  resemblance  to 
reality.  The  most  extravagant  fictions  were 
made  the  basis,  and  a  dazzling  affectation  of  wit 
the  superstructure  of  their  oratory.  Hence  it 
soon  passed  into  a  maxim,  that  pleasure,  and  not 
persuasion,  was  the  ultimate  purpose  of  elo- 
quence. "  The  author  of  a  declaration,"  says 
Seneca,  the  person,  of  whom  I  am  now  speaking, 
"  writes  not  to  prove,  but  to  please.  He  hunts 
up  every  thing,  that  can  give  pleasure.  Argu- 
ments he  discards,  because  they  are  toilsome,  and 
disdain  decoration.  He  is  content  to  charm  his 
audience  with  pointed  sentences,  and  flights  of 
fancy.  He  asks  your  favor,  not  for  his  cause,  but 
for  himself."     Here  you  see  the  root  of  corrup- 


LECT.  VI.]  (^UINCTILIAN.  145 

tion,  plucked  up  and  exposed.  Instead  of  assim- 
ilating declamation  to  the  realities,  for  which  it 
was  first  taught,  it  was  purposely  and  systematic- 
ally made  to  deviate  from  them  as  widely,  as  pos- 
sible. But  this  imnatural  affectation  could  not 
fail  to  spread  infection  over  the  reality,  and  the  frib- 
bling declaimer  of  the  school  became,  in  regular 
progression,  the  nerveless  and ta\\dry  talker  in  the 
senate,  or  at  the  bar. 

From  this  history  you  may  infer  a  general 
opinion  of  the  rate,  at  which  the  declamations  of 
the  rhetorician,  Seneca,  are  to  be  estimated.  They 
might  perhaps  have  been  more  valuable,  had  they 
come  down  to  us  in  a  perfect  state ;  but  mutilat- 
ed, as  they  are,  and  formed  on  such  a  defective 
foimdation,  they  can  be  of  little  use  in  the  study 
of  modern  eloquence,  and  their  intrinsic  merit 
cannot  entitle  them  to  much  attention.  Those, 
which  pass  under  the  name  of  Quinctilian,  are  not 
much  better,  and  are  well  known  not  to  have  been 
composed  or  even  compiled  by  him. 

There  exists  also  a  dialogue  of  that  age,   on 

the  causes  of  the  corruption  of  eloquence,  which 

has  occasionally  been  ascribed  both  to  Tacitus 

:md  Quinctilian,  and  is  usually  published  among 

the  ^\orks  of  botli  those  writers.     It  contains  an 
19 


146  CHARACTER   OF  [lECT.  VI. 

ingenious  parallel  between  eloquence  and  poetry, 
with  a  warm  eulogium  upon  these  sister  arts  ;    a 
comparison  between  the  celebrated  orator's  of  that 
day,  and  their  predecessors  in  the  age  of  Horten- 
sius  and  Cicero.      It  concludes  with  an  inquiry 
into   the   causes,   whence  the  corruption  of  elo- 
quence, then  so  universally  perceived,  had  pro- 
ceeded.     The  causes  assigned  deserve  our  par- 
ticular attention.     The  first  is  the  general  dissipa- 
tion, to  which  the  youth  of  the  age  had  abandon- 
ed themselves.     For  indolence  and  pleasure  are 
more  fatal  to  the  luiderstanding,  than  to  the  con- 
stitution ;    they  clog  the  circulations  of  the  soul 
still  more,  than  they  deaden  the  energies  of  the 
body ;  and,  by  one  simultaneous  operation,  emas- 
culate the  physical,  while  they  stupify  the  intellec- 
tual man.     The  next  cause,  and  inseparably  con- 
nected with  it,  is  the  neglect  and  carelesness  of 
the  parents,  who  were  grossly  heedless  of  the  edu- 
cation of  their  children.      In  that  universal  degra- 
dation of  taste  and  of  morals,  the  very  ties  of  na- 
ture were  unstrung,  and,  as  the  sons  had  no  sense 
of  what  was  due  to  themselves,  the  fathers  had 
lost  all  memory  of  their  duties  to  their  offspring. 
The  ignorance  of  the  rhetorical  teachers,   their 
preposterous  methods  of  instruction,    alternately 


tJECT.  VI.]  qUINCTILIAN.  147 

both  cause  and  effect  of  the  degeneracy  in  the 
public  tastie,  that  degraded  taste  itself,  the  im- 
patience of  the  judges,  who,  under  that  arbitrary 
government,  abridged  the  freedom  of  speech,  so 
essential  to  an  orator,  but  above  all  the  form  of 
government  since  the  extinction  of  the  republic  ; 
all  these  are  justly  enumerated,  as  the  causes  of 
that  corruption,  which  a  Quinctilian  or  a  Tacitus 
could  not  but  lament,  but  which  it  was  not  even 
in  their  genius  and  talents  to  heal.  It  is  much  to 
be  regi^etted,  that  a  considerable  part  .of  this  valua- 
ble treatise  is  lost. 

To  rescue  the  art  from  this  state  of  degrada- 
tion, Quinctilian  did  all,  that  human  ability  could 
accomplish.  His  institutes  embrace  the  most 
comprehensive  plan,  formed  by  any  of  the  ancient 
rhetoricians  ;  and  the  execution  of  the  w^ork  is  in 
all  respects  worthy  of  the  design.  Like  Seneca, 
he  is  said  to  have  been  a  native  of  Spain ;  and 
some  have  asserted,  that  he  was  the  grandson  of 
the  Quinctilian,  who  collected  the  declamations. 
Twenty  years  of  his  life  were  passed  at  Rome,  in 
the  two-fold  profession  of  a  teacher  of  rhetoric 
and  a  practitioner  at  the  bar  ;  in  both  of,  which 
characters  he  is  mentioned  honorably  b}'  the  epi- 
grammatist,  Martial,  in  the  following  lines. 


148  cHAioiCTER  or  [lect.vi. 

Quinctiliane,  vagae  moderator  summe  juventae, 
Gloria  Romanac,  Quinctiliane,  togae  ; 

Avhich,  for  the  benefit  of  a  less  classical  auditoiy 
than  mine,  might  be  thus  translated. 

Sure,  to  the  public  speaker's  fair  renown, 
Henceforth,  the  wildest  Roman  youth  may  reach  ; 
Since  thy  instructions,  glory  of  the  gown, 
At  once  by  precept  and  example  teach. 

During  part  of  die  time,  that  he  exercised  the 
rhetorical  profession,  he  received  a  salary  from 
the  public  treasury ;  and  he  obtained  from  one 
of  die  Roman  emperors  the  honors,  if  not  die  offi- 
cial dignity  of  the  consulship.  He  was  appointed  to 
superintend  the  education  of  two  grand  children 
to  the  sister  of  the  emperor  Domitian ;  and  had 
two  sons  and  a  daughter,  connected  by  marriage 
and  adoption  with  some  of  the  most  illustrious  fam- 
ilies in  Rome.  He  is  often  noticed  with  distinc- 
tion by  the  satirist,  Juvenal,  who  ascribes  his  wealth 
however  rather  to  his  good  fortune,  than  to  his 
talents,  and  who  scourges,  with  a  merciless  hand, 
the  proud  and  tasteless  grandees  of  the  age  for 
their  neglect  of  the  rhetorician.  After  twenty 
years  of  this  laborious  occupation,  Quinctilian  was 
permitted  to  relinquish  the  employment,  and  en- 


LECT.  VI.]  qUINCTILIAN.  149 

joy  the  fruits  of  his  toils.  But  many  of  his 
friends,  who  had  witnessed  the  happy  effects  of 
his  system  of  instruction,  intreated  him  to  pub- 
lish, and  leave  it  for  the  benefit  of  posterity.  Two 
considerations  finally  prevailed  upon  him  to  com- 
ply with  these  requests.  The  excellency  of  his 
lectures  had  occasioned  partial  and  incorrect  copies 
of  many  of  them  to  be  surreptitiously  taken  by 
some  of  his  schoiai's,  and  in  that  state  of  imperfec- 
tion they  had  been  published  to  the  world.  He 
also  thought,  that  in  all  the  rhetorical  works,  then 
extant,  there  was  a  defect  to  be  supplied.  They 
were  not  sufficiently  elementary.  They  presup- 
posed the  knowledge  of  many  things,  essential  to 
the  formation  of  an  orator  ;  and  took  up  their  pu- 
pils, as  already  initiated  in  all  the  preparatory 
learning.  For  the  purpose  therefore  of  vindicat- 
ing his  own  reputation,  and  of  giving  a  complete 
system  of  rhetoric  for  the  benefit  of  succeeding 
ages,  he  undertook  the  work,  Avhich  he  divided  in- 
to twelve  books.  It  is  addressed  to  Marcellus 
Victorius,  one  of  his  most  intimate  friends  ;  a  man 
of  elegant  taste  and  literary  accomplishments,  who 
felt  a  more  tlian  common  interest  in  the  undertak- 
ing, as  having  a  son  of  great  promise,  then  in  the 
course  of  his  education.      Quinctilian  therefore 


150  CHARACTER  OF  [lECT.  VI. 

supposes,  that  he  has  a  child  to  educate  in  the 
manner,  best  adapted  to  make  him  an  accomphshed 
orator ;  for  which  he  takes  him  in  the  first  years 
of  infancy,  yet  Hsping  from  the  arms  of  the  nurse, 
and  conducts  him  by  fair  degrees  through  every 
jireliminary  study,  and  every  appropriate  branch 
of  discipline,  until  he  has  attained  the  perfection 
of  the  art.  He  carries  him  through  life  ;  suggests 
to  him  the  various  studies,  occupations,  and 
amusements,  best  suited  to  the  purpose  of  his  des- 
tination. Accompanies  him  through  a  long  ca- 
reer of  active  eloquence  ;  follows  him  in  the  de- 
cline of  life  into  honorable  retirement,  and  teaches 
him  how  to  render  even  that  season  of  his  exist- 
ence useful  to  others,  and  agreeable  to  himself.  I 
had  prepared  an  analysis  of  this  work,  as  well  as  of 
some  treatises  of  the  Grecian  rhetoricians,  with 
the  intention  of  presenting  them,  in  one  compre- 
hensive summary,  to  your  view.  But  I  have 
thought  on  reflection,  that  it  would  waste  too 
much  of  your  present  time,  and  involve  the  con- 
sideration of  some  parts  of  the  science,  which  re- 
quire a  previous  elucidation,  to  be  clearly  under- 
stood. I  shall  therefore  at  present  only  notice  a 
few  passages,  which  even  now  may  furnish  useful 
hints  for  your  miditation  and  improvement. 


LEC 


T.  VI.]  (^UINCTILIAN.  151 


The  first  book  is  altogether  preparatory  ;  con- 
taining advice,  relative  to  the  selection  of  the 
child's  earliest  instructers  ;  a  discussion  of  the 
comparative  advantages  and  disadvantages  of  pub- 
lic schools,  and  of  domestic  tuition  ;  hints  for  as- 
certaining the  natural  dispositions  and  intellectual 
faculties  of  children  ;  gi'ammatical  disquisitions, 
and  miscellaneous  observations  upon  reading,  com- 
position, music,  geometry,  gesture,  and  pronuncia- 
tion ;  all  of  which  he  considers,  as  preliminary 
acquisitions  ;  and  which  he  thinks  may  be  most 
advantageously  learnt  at  the  same  time.  In  reply 
to  the  objection,  that  this  system  is  too  laborious, 
he  says,  with  a  warmth  of  eloquence,  and  a  sound- 
ness of  sense,  which  cannot  too  strongly  be  im- 
pressed upon  our  minds — 

The  whole  day  neither  can  nor  ought  to  be 
engrossed  with  learning  grammar ;  for  the  mind 
of  the  scholar  should  not  be  wearied  into  disgust. 
And  how  can  we  do  better,  than  assign  die  inter- 
vals of  leisure  to  these  subsidiary  studies  of  mu- 
sic and  geometry ;  taking  care  not  to  ovcrburthen 
him  with  any  of  them  ?  I  do  not  undertake  to 
form  a  musician  by  trade,  nor  a  ver}^  minute  pro- 
ficient in  geometry.  In  teaching  pronunciation,  I 
am  not  training:  an  actor  for  the  stas^e ;  nor,  in  giving 


152  CHARACTER  Of  i_LECT.  VI. 

rules  for  gesture,  do  I  propose  to  make  a  dancing 
master.  Not  that  there  is  any  lack  of  time.  The 
years  of  youthful  discipline  are  many  ;  and  I  do 
not  suppose  my  pupil  a  dunce.  What  made  Pla- 
to so  eminent  for  possessing  all  the  knowledge, 
which  I  suppose  essential  to  an  orator  ?  It  was 
because,  not  content  with  all  the  learning  of  Ath- 
ens, he  travelled  into  Italy  for  that  of  the  Pytha- 
goreans ;  and  even  into  Eg}'pt  to  obtain  access 
to  the  secret  mysteries  of  her  priests.  Let  us  be 
honest.  It  is  our  own  idleness,  tliat  we  endea\'our 
to  shelter  under  the  mantle  of  difficulty.  We  have 
no  real  affection  for  the  art.  Wc  court  eloquence, 
not  for  her  native,  exquisite,  and  unrivalled 
beauties ;  but  as  the  instrument  of  sordid  purpos- 
es, and  of  base  and  groveling  gains.  Let  the 
vulgar  orator  of  the  forum  hold  forth  his  igno- 
rance for  his  fee.  After  all,  the  pcdler  with  his 
pack,  and  the  town-crier  by  his  voire  will  earn 
more  money.  For  my  part,  I  would  not  ^^'illingly 
have  a  reader,  who  should  estimate  his  learning 
by  his  wages ;  no,  give  me  the  man,  who,  in  the 
sublime  conceptions  of  an  exalted  mind,  has  figur- 
ed to  himself  an  image  of  real  eloquence,  of  that  elo- 
quence, called  by  Euripides  the  queen  of  the  world. 
He  will  never  measure  her  rewards  by  his  fcc-table. 


LECT.  VI.]  (^UINCTILIAN.  153 

He  will  find  them  in  his  own  soul ;  in  his  own  sci- 
ence ;  m  liis  own  meditations.  Rewards  beyond 
the  reach  of  fortune,  and  perpetual  in  their  nature. 
That  man  will  easily  prevail  upon  himself  to  be- 
stow upon  geometry  and  music  the  time,  which 
others  waste  upon  theatres  ;  upon  public  sports ; 
upoffi  gaming  ;  upon  idle  companions  ;  if  not  up- 
on sleep,  or  upon  debauchery.  And  how  much 
more  delightfully  will  lie  pass  his  time,  than  in 
those  coarse  and  ignorant  indulgences  !  For  it  is 
one  of  the  blessings  of  providence  to  mankind, 
that  "  the  most  honorable  should  also  be  the  most 
exquisite  enjoyments."  These  are  the  sentiments 
of  Quinctilian.  They  are  the  only  sentiments, 
which  lead  to  greatness  and  to  glory  ;  to  social 
usefulness,  and  individual  felicity. 

The  introductory  chapters  to  the  fourth  and 
sixth  books  are  peculiarly  interesting,  as  they  re- 
late to  important  events  in  the  life  of  the  author. 
After  completing  the  third,  and  before  he  had 
begun  upon  the  fourth  book,  he  had  been  appoint- 
ed to  superintend  the  education  of  the  two  grand- 
sons of  the  emperor  Domitian's  sister.  He  ap- 
pears to  have  been  too  much  elated  by  the  honor 
of  this  appointment ;   and,  in  the  effusions  of  his 

gratitude  or  of  his  servilitv,  prostitutes  his  elo- 
20 


154  CHARACTER  OF  [lECT.  Vi. 

quence  in  strains  of  adulation  to  the  emperor, 
which  cannot  wipe  oft"  a  stain  from  the  iniamy  of 
Domitian,  but  which  shed  some  portion  of  it  upon 
his  panegyrist.  For  the  manners  of  the  age,  and 
the  nature  of  tlie  government,  some  allowance  must 
be  made  ;  and,  if  any  thing  could  be  wanting  to 
complete  our  abhorrence  of  arbitrary  power,  it 
would  be  sufficient  to  behold  a  man  of  Quinctil- 
ian's  genius  and  industry  prostrate  in  the  dust 
before  a  being,  hkc  Domitian.  In  the  midst  of 
this  degradation,  it  is  however  some  consolation  to 
observe  gleams  of  unquenchable  virtue,  still  pierc- 
ing through  the  gloom.  We  rejoice  to  find 
him  sensible,  that  the  advancement  of  his  dignity 
was  a  call  upon  him  for  redoubled  industry  and 
energy  in  the  prosecution  of  his  work.    - 

If  the  introduction  to  the  fourth  book  corripels 
us  reluctantly  to  pass  a  censure  upon  our  excellent 
instructer,  that  of  the  sixth  exhibits  him  under  the 
pressure  of  such  cruel  calamities,  tliat  the  natural 
and  pathetic  eloquence,  with  which  he  laments  his 
fate,  will  yet  claim  a  generous  tear  from  the  eye  of 
sensibility.  When  he  began  upon  his  great  work, 
his  condition  was  blessed  with  the  possession  of  a 
young  and  amiable  wife ;  and  of  two  promising 
sons.     The  ardor  of  his  spirit  had  been  inflamed 


LECT.  VI.]  q^tJINCTILIAN.  155 

by  the  hope  and  the  prospect,  that  his  own  chil- 
dren would  participate  in  the  benefit  of  liis  toils ; 
and  the  fire  of  his  genius  blazed  with  brighter  fer- 
vency for  being  kindled  at  the  torch  of  parental 
affection.  But  during  the  progress  of  his  labors, 
and  before  he  had  commenced  upon  the  sixth 
book,  all  his  actual  enjoyments  and  all  his  flatter- 
ing prospects  were  blasted  by  the  hand  of  death. 

"  The  shaft  flew  thrice  ;  and  thrice  his  peacjs  was  slain." 

The  feelings  of  a  husband  and  a  father  alone  can 
conceive  the  anguish,  which  inspires  his  com- 
plaints. They  are  the  agonies  of  nature,  when  un- 
supported by  tlie  everlasting  pillars  of  christian 
consolation.  He  breaks  out  into  maledictions  up- 
on his  own  writings,  and  curses  upon  his  attach- 
ment to  literature  ;  charges  heaven  with  injustice ; 
denies  an  eternal  superintending  providence,  and 
scorns  his  own  weaki^iess  for  supporting  the  bur- 
den of  his  existence,  while  his  own  hand  could  re- 
lease him  from  its  thraldom.  When  we  compare 
these  sentiments  with  that  genuine  doctrine  of  for- 
titude under  the  miseries  of  life,  which  the  pre- 
cepts of  the  christian's  faith  inculcate,  ^ve  can- 
not but  compassionate  the  unhappy  sufferer; 
while    wc    feel  with  redoubled    conviction    tht;- 


156  CHARACTER  OF  [lECT.   v  i. 

superiority  of  that  philosoph}-,  which  teaches  us 
to  consider  this  world,  as  no  more  than  a  course  of 
discipline  to  prepare  for  another  ;  and  resignation 
as  the  only  genuine  heroism  in  misfortune.  The 
soft  overflowings  of  the  father's  heart  succeed  the 
bitterness  of  his  execrations,  and  the  copious  enu- 
meration of  trivial  incidents,  to  display  the  opening 
virtues  and  fond  attachments  of  his  child,  awakens 
a  congenial  sense  in  the  reader,  and  toucliesthe  fin- 
est fibres  of  sympathy.  But  finally,  after  paying 
the  full  tribute  to  sensibilit}-,  the  energy  of  Stoic 
virtue  recovers  her  ascendency ;  and  we  admire 
the  resolution,  with  which  he  struggles  against  the 
rigor  of  his  fate,  and  seeks  consolation  in  the  bo- 
som of  literature. 

In  the  twelfth  and  concluding  book  Quinctil- 
ian  discusses  a  variety  of  miscellaneous  topics,  all 
having  relation  to  the  oratorical  profession.  Here 
it  is,  that  he  maintains,  in  a  long  and  elaborate 
chapter,  a  maxim,  much  dwelt  upon  by  most  of 
the  ancient  rhetoricians,  and  -which,  if  properly 
understood  and  qualified,  is  undoubtedly  true ;  but 
which  a  good  intention  has  led  him  to  assert  in 
terms,  and  to  defend  by  arguments,  irreconcila- 
ble to  truth  and  virtue. 


L£CT.  VI,]  qUINCTILIAX.  157 

To  form  the  perfect  ideal  orator,  that  model 
of  a  fair  imagination,  to  the  imitation  of  which 
every  public  speaker  should  constantly  aspire, 
honest}',  or  virtuous  principle,  is  the  first  and  most 
essential  ingredient.  None  but  a  good  man  there- 
fore can  ever  be  such  an  orator;  and  incorruptible 
integrity  is  tlie  most  powerful  of  all  the  engines  of 
persuasion. 

But  if  by  an  orator  is  meant  only  a  man,  pos- 
sessed of  the  talent  of  public  speaking  to  such  an 
extent,  as  has  ever  been  witnessed  in  the  e:spc- 
rience  of  mankind ;  if  it  be  meant,  that  no  nian 
can  be  eloquent  without  being  virtuous,  the  asser.- 
tion  is  alike  contradicted  by  the  general  constitu- 
tion of  human  nature,  and  by  the  whole  tenor  of 
human  experience.  Bad  men  may  be,  many  a 
bad  man  has  been  eminently  gifted  with  oratory- ; 
and  the  dignity  of  virtue  disdains  a  recommenda- 
tion of  herself  at  the  expense  of  ti'uth. 

The  arguments  of  Quinctilian,  in  support  of 
his  favorite  position,  are  not  all  worthy  of  his  cause. 
They  do  not  glow  with  that  open,  honest  elo- 
quence, which  they  seem  to  recommend  ;  but 
sometimes  resemble  the  quibbling  of  a  pettifogger, 
and  sometimes  the  fraudulent  morality  of  a  Jesuit. 
"  A  had  man,"  says  he,   "  not  only  by  the  judg- 


158  CHARACTER   OP  [lECT.  VI, 

ment  of  philosophers,  but  oftentimes  even  by  the 
vulgar,  is  thought  a  fool.  Now  a  fool  can  never 
be  an  orator."  If  this  reasoning:  is  onlv  ridicu- 
lous,  that,  which  follows,  is  something  worse.  An 
orator,  says  he,  must  be  an  honest  man  to  enable 
him,  whenever  it  may  be  necessary  for  the  success 
of  his  cause,  to  impose  upon  the  minds  of  his  au- 
ditors falsehood  for  truth.  And  then  follows  a 
philosophical  disquisition  of  the  occasions,  when 
an  honest  man  may  lie,  for  the  good  of  his  client. 
Perhaps  in  this  last  argument  we  may  discover  the 
real  nature,  as  well  as  the  origin  of  Quinctilian's 
principle.  He  insists,  that  his  orator  must  be  an 
honest  man. "  But  he  allows  his  honest  man  to 
equivocate,  and  lie,  and  abuse  the  confidence,  ac- 
quired by  honesty,  to  promote  the  success  of  fraud. 
Where  the  standard  of  virtue  is  so  low,  it  can  need 
little  labor  to  keep  on  its  level.  His  principle  is 
that  of  sir  Hudibras. 

For  if  the  devil,  to  serve  his  turn, 
Can  tell  truth  ;  why  the  saints  should  scorn. 
When  it  serves  theirs,  to  swear,  and  lie, 
I  think  there's  little  reason  why. 

No  ;  providence  has  not  thought  fit  so  to  consti- 
tute the  race  of  man,  as  to  bind  in  irrefragable 
chains  the  virtues  of  the  heart  with  the  faculties  of 


LECT.  VI. ]]  qUINCTILIAN.  159 

the  mind.  Nor,  could  we  realize  this  dream  of 
fancy,  would  it  improve  the  moral  government  of 
the  world.  Virtue  is  an  injunction  of  positive 
duty,  of  which  heaven  has  at  once  made  the  com- 
mand and  the  power  of  fulfilment  universal ;  leav- 
ing the  execution  to  individual  will.  But  the  dis- 
tribution of  intellectual  powers  is  partial,  and 
graduated  with  infinite  variety.  To  be  honest  is 
the  duty  and  in  the  po^er  of  us  all.  To  be  elo- 
quent can  only  be  the  privilege  of  a  few.  Hard 
indeed  would  be  the  condition  of  men,  if  honesty 
were  to  wander  in  all  the  eccentricities  of  genius, 
or  to  be  a  sport  to  the  caprices  of  fortune.  Let 
us  then  all  be  honest ;  for  honesty  is  wisdom  ;  is 
pleasantness ;  is  peace.  If  the  indulgence  of 
nature  and  the  vigils  of  )our  outi  industry  have 
endowed  you  with  the  favors  of  eloquence,  re- 
member, that  all  your  moral  duties  are  muhiplied 
in  proportion  to  your  powers ;  that  to  ^\•hom  much 
is  given,  of  him  shall  much  be  required.  But  in 
the  course  of  your  pilgrimage  through  this  world 
of  trial  and  of  temptation,  if  30U  should  occasion- 
ally meet  with  a  man,  blessed  with  all  the  power 
of  words,  do  not  too  hastily  conclude,  that  his 
moral  worth  must  be  of  equal  preeminence  with 
his  mental  faculties.       Reserve   the    treasure  of 


160  .  CHAIiAClEU  Sec.  [l£CT.  VI. 

your  conlidencc  for  the  silent  orator}-  of  virtuous 
deeds. 

We  have  now  completed  our  survey  of  the  char- 
iietcr  and  writings  of  the  principal  rhetoricians  of 
iuitiquity.  It  has  been  extremely  superficial ;  yet 
has  it  consumed  no  inconsiderable  portion  of  our 
time.  I  shall  next  ask  your  attention,  in  passing 
from  the  history  of  the  science  to  the  considera- 
tion of  the  science  itself. 


LECTURE  VIL 


CONSTITUENT  BRANCHES  OF   RHETORIC. 


IN  the  systematic  pursuit  of  science,  one  of 
the  most  important  points  is  a  steady  attention  to 
order  and  arrangement.  No  just  survey  of  any 
complicated  whole  can  be  taken,  without  keeping 
a  watchful  eye  both  upon  the  division  and  upon 
the  combination  of  its  parts.  It  is  the  essential 
advantage  of  scientific  over  desultory  knowledge, 
that  it  discovers  to  us  the  various  channels  and 
communications  between  things,  which  are  sepa- 
rated without  being  severed,  and  disjoined,  but 
not  disconnected.  In  the  construction  of  the 
human  body,  the  unlearned  observer  can  scarcely 
conceive  the  possibility,  that  a  puncture  in  the 

heel  should  stiffen  the  jaw,  or  that  a  blister  hr 
21 


162  COXSTITUENT  BRANCHES     [lECT.  VII. 

tweeu  the  shoulders  should  remove  an  oppression 
upon  the  lungs.  The  anatomist  examines  the  in- 
ternal fabric,  and  discovers  at  once  the  texture  and 
the  coherence  of  the  parts ;  but,  to  perceive  their 
mutual  influence  and  operation  upon  one  another, 
every  fibre  must  be  noticed,  not  only  in  its  posi- 
tive existence,  but  in  its  relative  situation  ;  as  the 
cooperating  parcel  of  an  organized  body,  no  less 
than  as  one  distinct,  entire,  and  individual  mem- 
ber. 

The  lectures,  which  I  have  hitherto  given,, 
from  the  beginning  of  the  course  have  been  rath- 
er preliminary,  than  didactic.  They  consisted, 
first  of  a  definition  and  division  of  the  subjects, 
upon  which,  by  the  rules  of  the  institution,  I  am 
required  to  address  you.  Next  of  a  vindication 
of  rhetoric  and  oratory  from  the  objections,  which 
are  often  urged  against  them  ;  and  lastly  of  a 
short  historical  review  of  the  principal  rhetoricians 
of  ancient  Greece  and  Rome.  These  were  natu- 
rally prepai'atory  to  a  consideration  of  the  sci- 
ence of  rhetoric,  upon  which  we  are  now  about 
to  enter ;  and  which,  in  conformity  to  the  iiuthori- 
ty  of  Cicero  and  Quinctilian,  I  shall  divide  into 
five  constituent  parts ;  invention,  disposition,  elo- 
cution, memory,  and  pronunciation,  or  action. 


LECT.  VII.]  OF   RHETOP.IC.  163 

A  concise  aiid  general  definition  of  these 
terms  is  contained  in  the  following  passage  from 
Cicero.  "  The  parts  of  rhetoric,  as  most  writers 
have  agreed,  are  invention,  disposition,  elocution, 
memory,  pronunciation. 

"  Invention  is  tlie  disco veiy  by  thought  of  those 
things,  the  truth,  or  verisimiUtude  of  which  ren- 
ders the  cause  probable. 

"  Disposition  is  the  orderly  arrangement  of  the 
things  invented. 

*■'  Elocution  is  the  application  of  proper  words 
and  sentences  to  invention. 

"  Memory  is  the  firm  perception  by  the 
mind  of  the  things  and  words,  applied  to  inven- 
tion.     And 

*'  Pronunciation  is  the  management  of  the  voice 
and  body,  conformably  to  the  dignity  of  the  words 
and  things. 

This  explanation  however  is  hardly  sufficient 
to  convey  clear  and  precise  ideas  either  of  the 
terms  themselves,  or  of  the  motives  for  distiibut- 
ing  the  whole  science  among  them. 

There  is  one  important  observation,  which  it 
will  be  necessaiy  for  you  to  bear  in  mind  through 
every  part  of  these  lectures,  and  which  is  essential 
for  the  clear  understanding  of  those  terms,  which 


164  CONSTITUENT  BRANCHES      [lECT.VII. 

designate  the  great  compartments  of  the  rhetoric- 
al science.  It  is,  that  in  every  systematic  art 
there  are  certain  words,  wliich  bear  a  specific 
technical  meaning,  very  different  from  that,  which 
is  annexed  to  them  in  ordinary  discourse.  A 
continual  attention  to  this  remark  becomes  the 
more  necessary,  when,  as  in  the  insUmccs  now 
before  us,  there  are  other  sciences,  in  which  the 
same  terms  are  used  to  indicate  a  very  different 
modification  of  ideas,  or  when  the  colloquial  or 
vulgar  meaning  of  the  word  has  become  preva- 
lent, by  a  misconception  of  its  technical  sense,  or 
a  considerable  deviation  from  it. 

To  illusti'ate  this,  trace  the  word  invention  to 
its  original  source,  and  compare  its  primary  mean- 
ing with  the  various  senses,  which  it  bears  in  the 
art  of  poetry,  in  mechanics,  in  ordinary  conversa- 
tion, and  in  rhetoric. 

It  was  originally  compounded  from  the  two 
Latin  words,  in  venire,  to  come  in,  to  enter.  By 
the  natural  progress  of  all  languages  from  the  lite- 
ral to  tlie  metaphorical  meaning,  it  came  in  pro- 
cess of  time  to  signify  discovery;  invenire,  to 
find;  inventio,  finding.  Such  is  the  ordinary 
meaning  of  the  words  in  the  Latin  language.  But, 
in  undergoing  this  transformation  of  the  sense, 


LECT.  VII.J  OF    RHETORIC.  165 

tlie  verb  was  at  the  same  time  transferred  from 
the  neutral  to  the  active  class.  In  its  primaiy 
meaning  the  coming  in  was  the  action  of  the 
external  object ;  and,  as  applied  to  thought,  sup- 
posed the  idea  active  and  the  mind  passive  ;  the 
thought  came  into  the  mind.  But,  in  its  trans- 
muted sense,  the.  action  was  cliangcd  from  the 
idea  to  the  person  ;  and  in^enirc,  to  find,  implied 
not  the  coming  of  the  thought  into  the  mind,  but 
the  going  of  the  mind  in  search  of  tJie  thought. 
This  is  the  sense,  in  which  rhetorical  invention  is 
understood.  But  invention,  when  applied,  as  by 
its  most  frequent  usage  it  is  in  ordinary  discourse, 
to  the  mechanic  arts,  supposes  still  greater  activi- 
ty of  the  mind.  It  means  a  higher  degree  of  in- 
genuity ;  a  more  powerful  exertion  of  intellect. 
In  the  language  of  Solomon  it  is  in  this  sense  de- 
clared to  be  the  immediate  operation  of  wisdom 
herself.  "  I,  wisdom,  dwell  with  prudence,  and 
find  out  knowledge  of  witty  inventions."* 

But  in  the  language  of  poetry  invention  as- 
pires still  higher,  and  lays  claim  not  merely  to 
the  praise  of  finding,  but  to  the  glory  of  creating. 
Poetical  invention  disdains  die  boundaries  of 
space  and  time.      She  ranges  over  worlds  of  her 

*  Prov,  VIII.  12. 


166  CONSIITUENT   BRANCHES      [lECT.  VH. 

own  making,  and  takes  little  heed  of  being  found 
out  by  wisdom,  or  of  dwelling  with  prudence. 
Her  powers  are  delineated  in  that  exquisite  pas» 
sage  of  Shakspeare,  ^vhich  }'0u  liave  all  heard  a 
thousand  times,  but  which  no  repetition  can  make 
uninteresting. 

The  poet's  eye,  in  a  fine  frenzy  rolling, 

Doth  glance  from  heaven  to  earth,  from  earth  to 

heaven  ; 
And,  as  imagination  bodies  forth 
The  forms  of  things  unknown,  the  poet's  pen 
Turns  them  to  shape,  and  gives  to  airy  nothing 
A  local  habitation  and  a  name. 

This  is  poetical  invention,  described  with 
more  than  poetical  truth.  For  observe,  gentle- 
men, that  in  bodying  forth  the  forms  of  things  un- 
known, in  giving  to  airy  nothing  what  it  cannot 
have,  the  poet^s  eye  must  be  rolling  in  a  fine 
frenzy ;  his  mind  must  be  released  from  all  the 
restraints  of  truth  and  reason,  and  his  imagination 
emancipated  from  all  the  laws  of  real  and  even  of 
probable  nature.  But  from  this  rhetorical  inven- 
tion differs  in  her  most  essential  characteristics. 
Truth,  or  at  least  the  resemblance  of  truth,  as  you 
will  perceive  by  the  definition  I  have  quoted  from. 


LECT.  VII. 3  OF   RHETORIC.  167 

Cicero,  is  her  most  indispensable  feature.  Not 
that  in  the  practice  of  orators  she  has  always  been 
thus  rigorously  confined ;  for,  among  the  choicest 
darlings  of  eloquence,  both  ancient  and  modern, 
it  would  not  be  difficult  to  quote  examples,  in 
which  they  appear  to  have  mistaken  poetical  for 
rhetorical  invention,  and  to  have  measured  the 
extent  of  their  faculties  by  the  wideness  of  their 
departure  from  truth.  But  this  is  no  part  of  the 
science  of  rhetoric.  Her  end  is  persuasion  ;  and 
her  most  irresistible  instrument  is  truth.  Poet- 
ical invention  is  the  queen  of  love ;  aiTayed  in 
the  magic  cestus,  and  escorted  by  the  graces  ; 
mingling  in  every  gesture  dissolute  wantonness 
with  enchanting  attraction,  and  blending  in  every 
glance  fascination  and  falsehood.  Rhetorical  in- 
vention is  Minerva,  issuing  in  celestial  panoplv 
from  the  head  of  Jupiter ;  beneficent  as  the  morn- 
ing beam,  but  chaste  as  tlie  flake  of  falling  snow ; 
with  the  glow  of  beauty  enkindJing  ardor  ;  but 
with  the  majesty  of  deportment  commanding  ven- 
eration. Rhetorical  invention  however  has  this  in 
common  with  the  invention  of  poetr}%  that  it  is 
the  most  powerful  test,  both  of  the  speaker's  ge- 
nius and  of  his  learning.  Though  confined  with- 
in the  regions  of  truth  or  of  verisimilitude,  the 


168  CONSTITUENT   BRANCHES      [lECT.  VII. 

range  of  invention  is  yet  coextensive  Avith  the  ora- 
tor's powers.  It  consists  in  the  faculty  of  finding 
whatsoever  is  proper  to  be  said,  and  adapted  to 
the  purpose  of  his  discourse  ;  of  selecting  from 
the  whole  mass  of  ideas,  conceived  or  stored  in 
his  mind,  those,  which  can  most  effectually  pro- 
mote the  object  of  his  speech ;  of  gathering  from 
the  whole  domain  of  real  or  apparent  truth  their 
inexhaustible  subsidies,  to  secure  the  triumph  of 
persuasion. 

Disposition  is  the  order,  or  method,  in  which 
the  thoughts  of  the  speaker  should  be  arranged. 
As  invention  is  the  standard,  by  which  to  meas- 
ure his  genius  and  learning,  disposition  is  more 
especially  the  trial  of  his  skill.  The  thoughts  in 
the  mind  of  an  orator  upon  any  subject,  requiring 
copious  elucidation,  arise  at  first  in  a  state,  resem- 
bling that  of  chaos  ;  a  mingled  mass  of  elemental 
matter  without  form  and  void.  Disposition  is 
the  art  of  selecting,  disposing,  and  combining  them 
in  such  order  and  succession,  as  shall  make  them 
most  subservient  to  his  design.  This  faculty, 
though  not  of  so  high  an  order  as  invention,  is 
equally  important,  and  nmcli  more  uncommon. 
You  shall  find  hundreds  of  persons  able  to  pro- 
duce a  crowd  of  good  ideas  upon  any  subject,  for 


LECT.  VII.]  Of   RHETORIC.  169 

one,  that  can  marshall  them  to  the  best  advantage. 
Disposition  is  to  the  orator  what  tactics,  or  the 
discipUne  of  armies  is  to  tiie  miUtary  art.  And 
as  the  balance  of  victory  has  almost  ahvays  been 
turned  by  the  'superiority  of  tactics  and  of  disci- 
phne,  so  the  great  effects  of  eloquence  ai'e  always 
produced  by  the  excellency  of  disposition.  There 
is  no  part  of  the  science,  in  which  the  consummate 
orator  will  be  so  decidedly  marked  out,  as  by  the 
perfection  of  his  disposition.  It  will  deserve 
your  particular  meditation  ;  for  its  principles  are 
applicable  to  almost  ever)'  species  of  literary  com- 
position ;  and  arc  by  no  means  confined  exclusive- 
ly to  oratory.  It  is  that  department  in  the  art  of 
writing,  in  which  a  young  writer  most  sensibly 
feels  his,  weakness ;  and  I  venture  a  conjecture, 
that  it  is  a  difficulty,  to  which  many  of  you,  my 
young  friends,  are  no  strangers.  When  called  to 
write  upon  any  topic,  assigned  you,  I  presume 
you  have  often  been  much  more  at  a  loss  how  to 
combine  and  arrange  your  thoughts,  than  for  the 
thoughts  themselves  ;  and  often  wanted  more  the 
disposing  hand  of  art,  than  the  genial  fertility  of 
nature.  Elocution,  says  the  definition  of  Cicijro, 
"  is  the  application  of  proper  words  and  sentences 

to  invention."      And  here  also  vou  will  perceive 

22 


170  CONSTITUENT   BRANCHES     [lECT.  VII. 

the  necessity  of  distinguishing  the  meaning  of  the 
term  from  its  ordinary  acceptiition,  as  now  gener- 
ally understood.  Elocution,  in  the  customary 
modem  sense,  means  the  act  of  speaking ;  the  de- 
livery. The  very  thing,  wliich,  in  the  division  I 
have  here  made  of  rhetoric,  is  called  pronuncia- 
tion, or  action.  In  this  sense  it  is  used  by  Sheri- 
dan and  Walker,  the  best  modem  English  writers 
and  teachers  upon  the  subject.  In  this  sense  it 
so  generally  prevails,  that  I  presume  many  of  you 
are  not  aware,  that  among  all  the  ancient  rhetori- 
cians it  means  a  thing  entirely  different.  It 
means  what  we  now  call  style,  or  diction  j  the 
wording  of  the  discourse.  I  intreat  you  to  mark 
and  remember  this  distinction,  without  which  eve- 
ly  thing,  which  I  shall  hereafter  say  to  you  upon 
elocution,  will  appear  absurd  or  unintelligible. 
The  elocution,  of  which  I  shall  speak  to  you,  be- 
longs not  to  the  delivery,  but  to  the  composition 
of  the  discourse.  It  is  the  act,  not  of  the  voice, 
but  of  the  pen.  It  is  the  clothing  of  the  thoughts 
with  language ;  and  applies  to  all  written  composi- 
tions. So  that  the  elocution  may  be  good  or  bad, 
of  a  discourse,  which  never  was  spoken,  as  much 
as  of  one,  that  was.  Now  the  other  sense  of  the 
word,  which  makes  elocution  to  consist  in  speak- 


LECT.  VII.]  OF    RHETORIC.  171 

ing,  is  so  much  more  familar  to  you,  that  I  have 
hesitated,  whether  I  ought  in  these  lectures  to  use 
the  word  in  the  ancient  sense.  But,  as  those  of 
you,  to  whom  the  science  has  a  pecuhar  interest, 
will  naturally  recur  to  the  ancient  fountains ;  as  yon 
never  can  understand  Cicero  and  Quinctilian 
without  first  knowing,  that  they  always  annex  to 
the  word  this  signification  ;  and  as  the  rules  of  this 
institution  prescribe  the  consideration  of  this  sub- 
ject under  that  meaning ;  I  have  thought  best  not 
to  discard  it,  but  to  explain  to  you  so  explicitly 
the  sense,  in  which  I  am  to  employ  the  expres- 
sion, that  you  may  be  in  no  hazard  of  mistaking 
it  for  any  other.  Elocution  then  is  the  act  ol* 
committing  your  discourse  to  WTiting. 

Memory  is  the  firm  possession  and  ready 
command  in  the  mind  of  the  thoughts,  arrange- 
ment, and  words,  into  which  the  discourse  has 
been  reduced. 

Pronunciation  is  the  delivery  of  the  discourse 
by  speech.  It  is  also  called  action ;  and,  as  I  have 
already  observed,  is  the  same  thing,  which,  in  or- 
dinary acceptation,  and  by  the  modern  English 
oratorical  writers,  is  called  elocution.  But  both 
these  words,  pronunciation  and  action,  furnish 
fresh  instances  of  the  utility  you  will  deriA'e  from 


172  CONSTITUENT  BRANCHES    [lECT.  VII. 

fixing  in  your  minclb,  willi  philosophical  precision, 
the  meaning  of  these  important  terms,  which  limit 
the  great  divisions  of  the  science.  Pronunciation 
for  instance  you  'would  probably  suppose  to  indi- 
cate only  the  utterance  of  a  single  word.  Action 
you  would  imagine  could  only  be  expressive  of 
the  speaker's  gestures.  Yet  this  is  not  the  sense, 
in  which  either  of  these  words  is  to  be  understood 
in  their  application  here.  Here,  and  among  all 
the  ancient  rhetoricians  and  orators,  pronunciation 
and  action  are  used  indiscriminately  to  signify 
that,  which  consists  of  their  combination  ;  that  is, 
delivery. 

You  will  now  be  able  to  understand  the  real 
force  of  an  anecdote,  which  has  often  been  related 
of  Demosthenes,  and  which  a  misconception  of  the 
meaning  of  one  of  those  words  has  often  occasion- 
ed to  be  erroneously  apprehended.  It  is  said, 
that,  upon  being  once  asked  what  was  the  first 
qualification  of  an  orator ;  he  answered  action. 
What  was  the  second  ;  action.  What  was  the 
third  ;  still  action.  How  many  blundering  com- 
ments, and  how  many  sagacious  misapplications 
have  been  made  upon  this  story,  on  the  supposi- 
tion, that  Demosthenes,  by  action,  merely  meant 
gesture ;  bodily  motion  !     How  many  a  semi-pe- 


LECT.  VII.]  OF    RHETORIC.  173 

dant,  knowing  just  enough  to  be  self-sufficient, 
has,  in  the  plenitude  of  his  wisdom,  discoAxred 
bv  this  anecdote,  that  Demosthenes  and  the  Athe- 
nians  knew  little  or  nothing  of  real  eloquence  ! 
How  many  a  petty  babbler,  engrafting  upon  a 
kinder  veneration  of  the  Grecian  orator  the  same 
misconstruction  of  his  words,  has  made  it  an  arti- 
cle of  his  creed,  that  eloquence  consists  in  gestic. 
ulation ;  and,  adapting  his  conduct  to  his  belief, 
practised  the  antic  postures  of  an  harlequin,  and 
fancied  himself  a  Demosthenes !  I  have  known 
even  eloquent  scholars  and  accomplished  speakers 
perplexed  to  account  for  this  opinion  of  the  gi-eat- 
est  of  orators,  and  questioning  the  truth  of  tlic 
stoiy,  merely  from  the  same  inaccurate  idea  of  his 
meaning.  His  meaning  was,  that  the  first,  the 
second,  and  the  third  thing,  to  which  a  public 
speaker  should  attend,  is  his  delivery;  and  al- 
though from  a  variety  of  circumstances  the  rclati\'e 
importance  of  this  article  was  greater  in  that  age, 
than  in  ours ;  yet  even  now  those,  who  have  wit- 
nessed in  its  full  extent  the  difference  of  effect 
upon  an  auditory  between  a  good  and  a  bad  deliv- 
cry,  will  be  at  no  loss  to  account  for  the  opinion 
of  Demostlicnes,  and  see  no  cause  to  question  his 
judgment. 


174  CONSTITUENT    BRANCHES    [lECT.  VII. 

Such  then  iire  the  primary  divisions,  under 
which  I  am  to  treat  of  the  science  of  rhetoric ; 
and  the  order,  in  wliich  I  have  mentioned  them, 
is  that,  pointed  out  by  the  natural  succession  of 
things,  in  their  appHcation  to  the  art  of  oratory. 
For  suppose  yourself  called  upon  to  speak  in  pub- 
lic upon  some  formal  occasion,  be  it  what  it  may ; 
your  first  concern  will  be,  what  you  are  to  say  ; 
what  the  reflections  of  your  mind  can  suggest  to 
you,  suitable  to  your  subject.  This  first  concep- 
tion of  the  thoughts  will  exercise  your  invention. 
Invention  therefore  is  the  first  chapter  in  the  book 
of  rhetoric.  Your  next  step  will  be  to  arrange  the 
thoughts,  which  your  invention  has  supplied  ;  and 
this  will  be  disposition.  Then  you  will  success- 
ively put  into  language,  commit  to  memory,  and 
pronounce,  your  discousc,  which,  it  were  super- 
fluous to  say,  must  be  done  in  some  order,  by  the 
means  of  elocution,  memory,  and  pronunciation  ; 
and  thus  this  division  comprehends  every  thing, 
that  can  be  included  in  the  composition  and  deliv- 
ery of  an  oratorical  speech.  But  divisions  like 
these  are  always  in  some  sort  arbitrary.  Rigor- 
ously speaking,  memory  and  pronunciation  might 
with  more  propriety  be  considered,  as  subdivisions 
of  elocution,  than  as  constituting  separate  heads. 


LECT.  VII.]  OF    RHETORIC.  175 

An  oratorical  discourse  may  be  written  without 
being  spoken ;  in  which  case  pronunciation  would 
not  be  included  in  the  work.  It  may  be  spoken 
^vithout  being  written  ;  for  it  may  be  extempora- 
neous, or  it  may  be  read ;  the  first  of  which  is 
very  common  in  legislative  debates,  and  on  ju- 
dicial trials ;  and  the  last  for  the  delivery  of  ser- 
mons and  of  lectures.  Invention,  disposition,  and 
elocution,  therefore  are  essential  and  indispensable 
to  every  oratorical  performance.  Memory  and 
pronunciation  are  applicable  only  to  some.  The 
divisions  of  Aristotle  then,  who  admits  only  in- 
vention, elocution,  and  disposition,  are  more  con- 
formable to  the  true  principles  of  analysis,  than 
those  of  Cicero  and  Quinctilian ;  nor  is  it  proba- 
ble, that  any  deviation  from  it  would  have  been 
made,  but  for  that  petty  ambition  of  the  minor 
rhetoricians  to  distinguish  themselves,  each  by 
some  novelty  of  his  own ;  an  ambition,  which  sac- 
rifices science  to  selfishness,  and  multiplies  the 
difficulties  of  the  student,  to  gratify  the  vanity  of 
the  author. 

To  show  you  how  exact  the  arrangement  of 
Aristotle  is,  you  will  find  on  opening  the  bible, 
that  it  corresponds  precisely  with  the  process  of 
the  Creator  in  making  tlie  world.     "  In  the  begin- 


176  CONSTITUENT   BRANCHES     [lECT.  VII. 

iiing  God  created  the  heaven  and  the  earth  ;  and 
the  earth  was  without  form  and  void."  Inven- 
tion. 

"  And  God  said,  let  there  be  light."  Elo- 
cution. 

"  And  God  divided  the  light  from  the  dark- 
ness ;  and  God  called  the  light  da}-,  and  the  dark- 
ness he  called  night."     Disposition. 

Thus  in  the  creation  of  the  universe  the 
same  identical  process  is  indicated,  which  Aris- 
totle prescribes  for  the  composition  of  a  dis- 
course. The  power  of  positive  creation  belongs  in- 
deed exclusively  to  the  supreme  Creator ;  where 
he  creates,  maii  can  only  find.  But  he  is  the  foun- 
tain of  all  intelligence ;  and  the  highest  excellence 
of  understanding  consists  in  the  imitation,  as  far  as 
the  imperfection  of  human  powers  will  permit,  of 
his  general,  unvarying  laws.  The  analytical  divis- 
ions of  Aristotle  in  this,  as  in  all  other  instances, 
were  formed  on  a  profound  investigation  of  the 
laws  of  nature ;  but  as  the  later  rhetoricians  have 
converted  memory  and  pronunciation  into  prima- 
ry branches  of  the  science,  and  as  at  all  events  they 
must  be  discussed  v/ith  all  the  attention,  which 
their  importance  requires,  I  have  included  them 
among  the  principal  divisions  of  the  subject,  and 


LECT.  VII. 3  OF    RHETORIC.  177 

shall  treat  of  them  separately  from  the  others,  and 
combined  with  them  to  complete  the  system. 

Invention  then  is  the  discovery,  by  thought, 
of  the  things  best  adapted  to  obtain  the  purpose  of 
the  speaker ;  and  one  of  the  objects  of  the  rhetori- 
cian is  to  indicate  to  the  practical  orator  the  means 
of  sharpening  this  facultyj  and  of  facilitating  its 
exercise.  To  this  end  Aristotle  appears  to  ha\'e 
been  the  first  inventor  of  the  principal  subdivision 
under  this  article ;  and  the  test  of  his  distinction 
was  drawn  from  the  nature  of  the  purposes,  to 
which  the  oratorical  discourses  of  that  age  were 
applied.  He  considered,  that  all  public  speaking 
had  an  object  of  reference  either  to  past,  present,  or 
future  time  ;  and  with  a  view  to  something  to  be 
done  or  omitted.  That  all  such  questions  must 
necessarily  be  subjects  of  deliberation ;  and  he  ac- 
cordingly called  them  deliberative  discourses. 
That  those,  which  referred  to  time  past,  consisted 
of  controversies  in  the  courts  of  law,  respecting 
rights  previously  existing,  or  wrongs  previously 
committed.  This  kind  of  public  speaking  he 
therefore  denominated  judicial  eloquence.  That 
the  third  division  consisted  of  all  such  speeches, 
as,  having  no  reference  either  to  deliberation  for  the 

future,  or  to  adjudication  upon  die  past,  were  en- 
23 


178  CONSTITUENT   BRANCHES    [lECT.  VII. 

grossed  by  the  present  moment ;  and  were  usual- 
ly adapted  more  to  exhibition,  than  to  business ; 
rather  to  show,  than  to  action.  These  therefore 
he  called  by  a  term  indicative  of  show,  and  which, 
as  translated  by  the  Latin  rhetorical  \VTiters  and 
their  successors,  are  called  demonstrative  orations. 
This  division  has  been  universally  adopted  until 
very  modern  times;  and  is  even  prescribed  in  the 
rules  and  statutes  of  the  Boylston  professorship,  as 
still  to  be  recognized  in  this  course  of  public  lec- 
tures. Nor  was  this  regulation  injudicious.  For, 
although  the  ancient  classification  in  this  case  does 
not  include  all  the  modes  of  speaking,  usual  in 
modern  times;  yet  it  is  of  material  importance, 
that  you  should  know  what  that  ancient  classifica- 
tion was.  It  is  essential  to  the  understanding  not 
only  of  all  the  ancient  systems  of  rhetoric,  but  of 
many  of  the  most  celebrated  orations.  The  rules, 
derived  from  these  distributions,  direct  the  special 
character,  which  marks  all  the  diversities  of  Cice- 
ro's eloquence ;  and  one  of  the  first  questions, 
which  the  profound  student  of  his  orations  should 
ascertain,  is,  to  which  of  the  three  kinds,  the  de- 
liberative, the  demonstrative,  or  the  judicial  orato- 
ry, each  of  the  orations  belongs. 


LECT.  VII.]  OF    RHETORIC.  179 

The  modem  arrangement,  adopted  by  the 
French  rhetoricians,  and  after  them  by  Blair,  is  in- 
to the  eloquence  of  the  pulpit,  of  popular  assem- 
blies, and  of  the  bar.  And  this  I  suppose  to  be 
the  division,  with  which  you  are  most  familiarly 
acquainted.  There  is  one  great  advantage  in  it, 
arising  from  the  circumstance,  that  two  of  the  three 
depaitments  are  identically  the  same  with  those, 
established  by  the  ancients;  the  eloquence  of  popu- 
lar assemblies  being  but  another  word  for  delibera- 
tive, and  the  eloquence  of  the  bar,  for  judicial  ora- 
tory. The  third  modern  division  substitutes  the 
eloquence  of  the  pulpit,  which  to  the  ancients  was 
altogether  unknown,  instead  of  their  demonstrative 
oratory ;  but,  in  excluding  this  latter  denomination 
altogether,  they  have  left  a  numerous  and  in  our 
country  an  important  class  of  public  discourses 
entirely  destitute  of  a  name.  In  the  British  domin- 
ions perhaps  there  may  have  been  a  propriety  in 
omitting  this  kind  of  discourses,  because  they  are 
not  much  in  use  among  them.  But  we  have  re- 
sumed in  these  United  States  that  particular  style 
of  speaking,  which  was  so  customary  among  the 
Greeks  and  Romans,  but  which  in  the  island  of 
Great  Britain  seems  to  be  almost  entirely  unprac- 
tised.     On  the  aimiversary  of  our  independence 


180  CONSTITUENT    BllANClIES    [lECT.  VII. 

every  city  and  almost  every  village  of  this  Union 
resounds  with  formal  discourses,  stcfctly  belonging 
to  the  demonstrative  class  of  the  ancients.  There 
are  many  other  occasions  public  and  private,  upon 
which  we  are  accustomed  to  assemble  in  churches, 
and  hear  orations  of  the  demonstrative  kind. 
Many  of  the  performances  at  all  our  public  com- 
mencements are  of  the  same  description.  Fune- 
ral orations,  as  distinct  from  funeral  sermons,  are 
very  common  amoiig  us  ;  and  in  general  the  pub- 
lic taste  for  this  species  of  public  oratory  is  a  dis- 
tinguishing feature  in  our  character.  Yet  the  stu- 
dents, who  collect  their  rules  of  rhetoric  only 
from  Blair,  have  no  knowledge  of  the  critical  prin- 
ciples, upon  which  demonstrative  orations  ought 
to  be  composed.  The  proper  style  of  eloquence, 
adapted  to  them,  is  therefore  little  understood, 
and,  as  far  as  my  experience  has  observed,  less 
practised.  The  great  purposes  of  public  benefit, 
to  which  these  orations  might  and  ought  to  be  ap- 
plied, that  of  stimulating  genius,  patriotism,  and 
beneficence,  by  honorable  eulogy ;  and  that  of 
teaching  useful  lessons  of  national  virtue,  by  the 
honest  artifices  of  eloquence,  seldom  discover 
themselves  in  those  discourses,  however  deeply 
they  may  be  impressed  upon  the  speaker's  mind. 


LECT.  VII.]  or  EHETORIC.  18] 

We  must  therefore  reinstate  demonstrative  oratory 
ill  the  place,  from  which  Doctor  Blair  has  degrad- 
ed it ;  and  for  the  eloquence  of  the  pulpit  must  as- 
sign a  separate  and  very  distinguished  place  bv 
itself. 

There  is  also  another  mode  of  public  speaking, 
which  has  arisen  from  modern  usages  and  man- 
ners, of  which  nothing  could  be  said  in  the  ancient 
rhetoricians,  and  which  has  been  generally  over- 
looked by  the  moderns.  It  may  be  termed  the 
eloquence  of  the  bench  ;  and  consists  in  the  charg- 
es of  magistrates  to  grand-juries,  their  addresses 
to  petit-jurors,  on  summing  up  causes,  and  the 
assignment  of  reasons,  which  they  often  gi\-c  for 
their  decisions.  It  may  be  deemed  perhaps  onh- 
one  modification  of  judicial  eloquence,  but  its  prop- 
er principles  are  altogether  different  from  those,  on 
which  the  oratory  of  the  bar  is  founded  ;  aiid,  like 
that  of  the  sacred  desk,  partake  of  all  the  ancient 
kinds,  the  deliberative,  the  judicial,  and  tlie  de- 
monstrative. 

In  adhereing  therefore  to  these  ancient  distinc- 
tions, we  are  in  no  danger  of  wasting  our  hours  up- 
on the  acquisition  of  any  useless  knowledge.  Eve- 
ry  one  of  the  tliree  ancient  kinds  of  public  speaking 
is  in  frequent  and  common  use  among  us  ;    and 


182  CONSTITUENT  BRANCHES.  [lECT.  VII. 

every  precept,  which  ever  could  be  useful  in  the 
exercise  of  cw^tory,  remains  useful  in  its  utmost 
extent  here.  The  eloquence  of  the  divine  and  of 
the  magistrate  partakes  of  them  all ;  and  occasion- 
ally requires  the  arguments,  appropriated  to  each  of 
them  separately.  It  has  also  suggested  some  ad- 
ditional principles,  which  we  shall  consider  at  the 
proper  tirae.  I  shall  now  conclude  with  remind- 
ing 5'ou,  that  in  this  lecture  you  have  the  outline 
of  all,  that  the  whole  course  will  comprize.  That 
under  the  successive  articles  of  invention,  disposi- 
tion, elocution,  memory,  and  pronunciation,  what- 
ever I  have  to  say  upon  the  science  of  rhetoric  will 
be  included ;  and  that  the  primary  division  of  or- 
atory, drawn  from  the  different  ultimate  purposes 
of  the  speaker,  is  into  discourses  demonstrative, 
deliberative,  judicial,  and  religious. 


LECTURE  VIII. 


STATE  OF  THE  CONTROVERSY. 


IN  my  last  lecture  I  informed  you,  that  the 
whole  science  of  rhetoric  was  divided  into  five 
constituent  parts  ;  invention,  disposition,  elocution^ 
memory,  and  pronunciation  or  action.  All  which 
terms  I  endeavoured  to  explain  in  such  a  manner, 
that  your  ideas  of  their  import  might  be  clear  and 
precise.  Proceeding  then  to  the  consideration  of 
the  facilities,  which  it  is  the  object  of  the  science 
to  furnish  the  orator's  invention,  I  indicated  the 
tliree  great  classes,  into  which  all  oratorical  per- 
formances were  divided  by  the  ancient  rhetori- 
cians, and  by  them  denominated  the  demonstrative, 
the  deliberative,  and  the  judicial.  It  will  noAV  be 
proper  to  say  something  more,  with  a  view  to  ex- 


184  STATE  or  THE  [lECT.  VIII. 

liibit  tilt;  reiisons  for  this  division.  la  undertak- 
ing to  reduce  the  most  important  principles  of 
eloquence  to  a  system  of  rules,  it  was  obvious 
that  there  were  certain  points,  tlie  observance  of 
which  applied  equally  to  every  occasion,  upon 
which  a  man  should  speak  in  public  ;  and  certain 
others,  which  could  operate  only  Avhen  the  object 
of  the  speaker  was  directed  to  some  specific  pur- 
pose. The  scenes,  upon  \vhich  orators  were  ac- 
customed to  exercise  their  talents,  were  different. 
In  the  popular  assemblies,  general  or  particular, 
the  subjects  discussed  were  concerning  laws  to  be 
enacted,  taxes  to  be  levied,  distributions  of  the 
public  force  and  revenue  to  be  made,  accounts  to 
be  settled,  and  all  other  things  of  a  similar  nature. 
Deliberation  upon  something  to  be  done  was  the 
common  character  of  all  such  meetings  ;  and  the 
whole  drift  of  the  orator  in  such  debates  must  be 
to  persuade  his  hearers,  that  the  measure  in  ques- 
tion is  useful,  or  the  contrary.  Before  the 
public  tribunals,  where  the  litigation  of  conflict- 
ing rights  was  conducted,  the  question  must  ne- 
cessarily concern  some  action  past ;  and  the  com- 
mon standard,  to  which  the  orator  must  exert 
himself  to  bring  the  cause,  which  he  supported, 
was  justice.      But  orations,  written  before-hand, 


LECT.  VIII.]  CONTROVERSY.  185 

for  delivery  on  some  public  solemnity,  whether  in 
honor  of  individuals,  of  communities,  or  of  events, 
neitlier  having  nor  intended  to  have  any  direct 
bearing  upon  the  will  of  other  men  ;  neither  des- 
tined to  influence  deliberation  of  the  future,  nor  de- 
cision upon  the  past ;  die  luxury,  not  the  necessi- 
ty of  social  intercourse  ;  the  pride,  pomp,  and  cir- 
cumstance, not  the  broils  and  battle  of  oratoric- 
al warfare ;    these,   from  their  showy  character, 
were  called  demonstrative  discourses;    and  honor 
was  the  subject  of  their  story.    It  will  be  obvious 
to  you  that,  in  regard   to  die    character  of  the 
composition,    arrangement,   and    delivery,    there 
must  be  a  great  difference  in  the  style  and  manner, 
suited  to  these  several  theatres  of  eloquence.  That 
the  same  mode  of  proceeding,  which  would  be 
proper  for  an  anniversary  oration,  would  be  ridicu- 
lous upon  an  argimient  at  the  bar ;    and  that  nei- 
ther would  befit  a  debate  upon  the  passage  of  u 
law  in  the  legislature.      There  are  some  of  you, 
who,  in  the  course  of  a  very  few  years,  may  be  call- 
ed to  exhibit  your  talents  on  each  of  these  differ 
ent  stages  ;  and  you  will  then  be  fully  sensible  of 
the  advantage  there  is  in  forming,  durmg  the  pro- 
cess of  early  education,  a  distinct  idea  of  the  style 

of  eloquence,  adapted  to  each. 

24 


186  STATE  OF  THE  [lECT.  VIII. 

A  legislature  then  deliberates  whether  a  law 
shall  be  past ;  a  court  of  justice  decides  whedier 
a  wrong,  public  or  private,  has  been  committed ; 
and  a  holiday  audience  is  delighted  or  wearied,  in- 
structed or  disgusted.  I  shall  in  future  treat  of 
the  arguments,  peculiarly  proper  for  each  of  these 
occasions,  separately;  but  I  am  first  to  notice 
essential  particulars,  belonging  to  them  all. 

The  first  and  most  important  of  these  is  what 
the  ancient  rhetoricians  term  the  state  of  the  con- 
troversy.    The  passages  in  the  treatises  of  Cicero 
and  Quinctilian,  relating  to  this  subject,  are  some 
of  the  most  tedious  and  unprofitable  parts  of  their 
works,  because  they  have  continual  reference  to 
the  institutions  and  forms  of  proceeding,  prevalent 
in  their  times ;   which   were  very  different  from 
tliose,  to  M  hich  we  are  accustomed.     Some  of  the 
translators,  and  even  some  editors  of  Quinctilian, 
with  a  freedom    highly   to  be    censured,    have 
struck  out  almost  the  whole  of  his  chapter  on  this 
article.      Yet  a  full  and  clear  understanding  of  it, 
properly  applied  to  the  usages  and  manners  of  our 
own  times,  is  one  of  die  most  important  points  in 
the  whole  science. 

The  state  of  a  controversy,  or,  as  it  is  often- 
times denominated,  the  state  of  the  cause,  and  yet 


LECT.  VIII.]  CONTROVERSY.  187 

more  frequently  by  the  single  word,  the  state,  has 
probably  suggested  to  your  minds  either  a  con- 
fused and  indistinct  idea,  or  an  idea  very  differ- 
ent from  that,  which  it  imports.  When  I  speak 
of  the  state  of  a  controversy,  you  would  naturally 
conclude,  that  there  must  be  a  controversy  or  dis- 
puted point  to  be  settled,  and  that  its  state  meant 
its  situation  in  point  of  time ;  indicating  the  pro- 
gress, made  by  the  parties,  and  discovering  the 
ground  still  to  be  gone  over.  Such,  in  the  ordi- 
nary signification  of  the  words,  would  be  the  idea, 
which  the  state  of  the  controversy  would  convey. 
The  state  of  the  controversy  among  rhetoricians 
means  quite  another  thing.  It  is  the  quod  erat 
demonstrandum  of  the  mathematicians.  It  is  the 
mark,  at  which  all  the  speaker's  discourse  aims  ; 
the  focus,  towards  which  all  the  rays  of  his  elo- 
quence should  converge ;  and  of  course  varies 
according  to  the  nature  and  subject  of  the  speech. 
In  every  public  oration  the  speaker  ought  to  have 
some  specific  point,  to  which,  as  to  the  goal  of  his 
career,  all  his  discourse  should  be  directed.  In 
legislative  or  deliberative  assemblies  this  is  now 
usually  called  the  question.  In  the  courts  of 
common  law  it  is  known  by  the  name  of  the  is- 
sue.    In  polemical  writings  it  is  sometimes  called 


188  STATE   OF   THE  [lECT.  VIII. 

the  point.  In  denicn^strative  discourses  it  is  dilat- 
ed into  the  general  name  of  the  subject ;  and  in 
the  pulpit  the  proper  state  is  always  contained  in 
the  preacher's  text.  It  belongs  therefore  to  every 
class  of  public  speaking,  and  is  not  confined  to  ju- 
dicial or  deliberative  oratory,  where  alone  you 
would  at  first  blush  suppose  the  term  controversy 
could  properly  be  applied.  It  is  indeed  probable, 
that  it  first  originated  in  judicial  contests,  where  it 
always  remained  of  most  frequent  use.  Totlie 
other  classes  it  was  transferred  by  analogy.  Who- 
ever speaks  in  public  must  have  something  to 
prove  or  to  illustrate.  Whatever  the  occaion  or  the 
subject  may  be,  the  purpose  of  the  orator  must  be 
to  convince,  or  to  move.  Every  speech  is  thus 
supposed  to  be  founded  upon  some  controversy, 
actual  or  implied.  Conviction  is  the  great  pur- 
pose of  eloquence,  and  this  necessarily  presuppos- 
es some  resistance  of  feeling  or  of  intellect,  upon 
Avhich  conviction  is  to  operate. 

I  told  you  that  the  state  of  the  controversy  was 
one  of  the  most  important  points  of  consideration 
in  the  whole  science  of  rhetoric.  As  I  have  ex- 
plained it  to  you  in  its  broadest  acceptation,  it  is  to 
the  orator  what  the  polar  star  is  to  the  mariner. 
It  is  the  end,  to  which  every  word  he  utters  ought 


L£CT.   VIII. J  CONTROVERSY.  189 

clirectl)^  or  indirectly  to  be  aimed ;  and  the  whole 
art  of  speech  consists  in  the  perfect  understanding 
of  this  end,  and  the  just  adaptation  of  means  to  ef- 
fect its  accomplishment.  This  may  perhaps  appear 
to  you  to  be  so  obvious  and  so  trivial  a  truth,  as  to 
require  no  illustration.  And  yet  you  will  find 
throughout  your  lives,  in  the  courts  of  law,  in  the 
legislature,  in  the  pulpit,  nodiing  is  so  common, 
as  to  see  it  forgotten.  Our  laws  have  found  it  ne- 
cessary to  provide,  that  in  town-meetings  nothing 
shall  be  acted  upon  by  the  inhabitants,  unless  the 
subject,  or  state  of  the  controversy,  has  been  in- 
serted in  the  warrant,  which  calls  them  together. 
In  all  our  legislative  bodies  rules  of  order  are  es- 
tablished for  the  purpose  of  confining  the  speak- 
ers to  the  subject  before  them  ;  and  certain  forms 
even  of  phraseology  are  adopted,  into  which  every 
question  must  be  reduced.  Yet  even  this  is  not 
sufficient  to  restrain  tlie  wandering  propensities  of 
debate.  There  is  a  formal  rule  in  the  British 
house  of  commons,  that  "  no  member  shall  speak 
impertinently,  or  beside  the  question."  A  rule, 
which  I  believe  none  of  the  legislative  assemblies 
in'our  country  has  thought  proper  to  adopt ;  and 
A\ hoc\cr  has  been  present  at  a  debate  in  the  parlia- 
ment of  Great  Britain  has  perceived  at  least  with 


190  STATE   OF   THE  [lECT.  VIII. 

as  strong  demonstration  the  inefficacy,  as  the  ne- 
cessity of  such  a  regulation.  In  the  courts  of  law 
so  essential  and  so  difficult  is  it  to  bring  parties  or 
their  counsel  to  a  point  in  litigation,  that  no  cause 
can  be  given  to  a  jury,  or  come  to  the  judges  for 
decision,  by  the  practice  of  the  common  law,  until 
the  written  pleadings  have  brought  the  case  to  an 
issue,  and  until  that  issue  has  been  joined.  Now 
this  issue,  in  judicial  trials,  as  I  have  already  ob- 
served to  you,  is  what  the  ancient  lawyers  and  rhet- 
oricians denominated  the  state  of  the  controversy. 
But  so  loose  and  so  various  are  the  acceptations, 
in  which  terms  of  science  are  often  received  in 
their  popular  usage,  that  I  find  it  necessary  to  ex- 
plain to  you  the  real  meaning  even  of  these  two 
words,  issue  and  pleadings  ;  one  of  which  is  liable 
to  be  misunderstood  by  a  very  vulgar,  though  not 
uncommon  misapplication ;  and  the  other,  because 
in  common  discourse  it  is  used  to  signify  a  differ- 
ent idea.  I  have  heard  a  divine  in  the  pulpit  say, 
that  we  might  join  issue  in  such  or  such  a  remark 
of  some  celebrated  writer ;  meaning  that  we  might 
assent  to  the  remark,  and  agree  with  the  writer. 
But  to  join  issue  does  not  mean  to  agiee ;  it  means 
precisely  the  contrary.  To  join  issue  with  a  writ- 
er is  directly  to  deny  what  he  affirms,   or  affirm 


LECT.  VIII.]  CONTROVERSY.  191 

what  he  denies,  and  to  put  the  question  upon  trial. 
A  divine  therefore  should  be  cautious  not  only 
how,  but  upon  what  he  joins  issue  ;  lest  he  should 
find  himself  unawai-es  denying  exactly  what  he 
intends  to  affirm,  or  affirming  what  he  means  to 
deny. 

The  case  is  different  with  pleas  and  pleadings. 
By  these  words  almost  every  person,  excepting 
professional  lawyers,  understands  the  speeches  of 
the  counsel  to  a  judge  or  a  jury  ;  and  you  famil- 
iarly say,  I  heard  such  a  lawyer  plead  such  a  cause, 
and  he  spoke  well  or  ill ;  he  made  a  good  or  a  bad 
plea.  The  expressions  in  this  sense  are  not  incor- 
rect, because  the  imiversality  of  their  usage  has 
forced  them  into  lawful  currency.  But  to  a  mem- 
ber of  the  bar  pleas  and  pleadings  mean  the  part 
of  a  law-suit,  which  is  written  ;  not  that,  which  is 
spoken.  They  mean  the  allegations  and  counter 
allegations  of  tlie  parties  to  a  suit ;  the  charge  and 
the  answer ;  the  reply  and  rejoinder  ;  the  conflict 
of  opposing  assertions,  which  must  all  be  in  writ- 
ing, and  by  the  means  of  which  the  parties  must 
come  to  some  specific  point  of  fact,  or  of  law,  af- 
firmed on  one  side,  and  denied  on  the  other,  before 
the  cause  can  be  tried,  or  the  lawyers  argue  the 
issue.     The  pleadings  must  all  be  finished,  before 


192  STATE   OF  THE  [lECT.  VIH. 

the  speeches  of  the  iawyci's  conimcnce.  So  you 
see  pleading  in  the  popular  sense  ncAcr  begins, un- 
til pleading  in  the  professiouiil  sense  is  over.  A 
very  material  distinction  !  For  although  there  may 
be  instances  in  the  courts,  where  even  the  lawyers' 
speeches  do  little  more  than  end  where  they  be- 
gan ;  yet  the  generality  of  suitors,  as  well  as  wit- 
nesses, would  not  be  very  willing  to  hear  them  be- 
gin where  they  end. 

The  pleadings  are  the  provision,  made  by  tlie 
common  law  to  bring  litigating  parties  to  an  issue, 
or  a  state  of  the  controversy.  And  so  anxious 
has  the  law  been  to  obtain  this  desirable  object, 
that  a  perfect  knowledge  of  the  doctrine  of  pleas 
and  pleadings  is  equivalent  to  a  knowledge  of  the 
whole  science.  Pleas  and  pleadings  are  the  log- 
ic of  the  law,  as  the  speeches  of  lawj-ers  are  its 
rhetoric  ;  and  yet,  notwithstanding  all  these  pains, 
those,  who  have  been  habituated  to  attend  the  trial 
of  causes,  know  full  well  hov/  much  time  is  wasted, 
of  judges  and  jurors,  of  suitors  and  witnesses ; 
how  much  weariness  is  inflicted  upon  them,  and 
to  how  much  delay  the  public  justice  of  a  nation 
is  subjected  from  the  forgetfulness  of  lawyers  to 
observe  the  state  of  the  controversv. 


LECT.  VIII.]  CONTROVERSY.  193 

In  demonstrative  orations  and  discourses  from 
the  pulpit  the  orator  is  controled  only  by  his  own 
judgment.  Here  is  no  formal  controversy,  as  in 
the  other  scenes  of  pul^lic  speaking.  The  state, 
in  this  department  of  oratory,  is  but  another  word 
for  the  subject.  Take  up  then  any  collection  of 
orations,  delivered  on  public  occasions,  and  ex- 
amine them  barely  upon  these  two  questions, 
what  is  the  subject  ;  and  what  is  the  beaiing 
of  the  discourse  upon  it  ;  and  you  will  soon 
discover,  that  the  state  of  the  controversy  is  a  part 
of  rhetoric,  of  which  demonstrative  orators  are  as 
ignorant,  or  as  heedless,  as  those  of  the  senate  or 
the  bar.  The  same  observation  does  not  apply 
with  so  much  force  to  the  sermons,  which  we  are 
accustomed  to  heai*  from  the  desk,  and  occasion- 
ally to  read  in  print.  In  this,  as  in  every  other 
respect,  the  modern  eloquence  of  the  pulpit  ap- 
proaches nearer  to  the  excellence  of  antiquit}-,  than 
that,  which  is  heard  in  eidier  of  the  fields  of  orato- 
\y,  which  are  common  both  to  ancient  and  mod- 
ern times.  The  practice  of  delivering  written 
vliscourscs,  and  the  frequency,  with  which  every 
clergyman  is  required  to  perform  this  service, 
have  naturally  produced  in  that  profession  a  clear- 

("t  perception,  and  a  stronger  impression  of  the 

25 


194  STATE   OF   THE  [lECT.  VIII. 

Utility  of  methodical  an^angcment,  and  of  adher- 
ence to  the  sul3Ject,  than  can  ever  be  acquired  by 
the  practice  of  occasional  and  extemporaneous 
speaking.  The  connexion  between  the  sermon 
and  its  text  is  generally  better  preserved,  than  that 
of  any  other  class  of  discourses,  u  ith  their  state  of 
controversy  ;  yet  even  in  the  compositions  of  the 
divine,  his  method  is  often  more  formal  tlian  sub- 
stantial, and  as  often  marked  by  the  breach,  as  by 
the  observance. 

Upon  this  'subject  however,  as  well  as  upon 
the  topics,  v/hich  arc  very  intimately  connected 
with  it,  the  subtlety  of  the  ancient  rhetoricians 
was  ever  on  the  rack  to  analyze  and  classify  all 
the  kinds  of  states,  which  could  possibly  be  devis- 
ed. Quinctilian  devotes  a  very  long  chapter  to 
the  discussion  of  this  article.  According  to  his 
usual  custom  he  recapitulates  the  opinions  of  pre- 
ceding rhetoricians,  and  concludes  with  giving  his 
own.  He  apologizes  for  having  changed  this 
opinion  since  the  time,  ^vhen  he  had  taught  rhet- 
oric professionally,  and  his  ideas  on  the  subject 
still  appear  to  be  indistinct  or  confused.  He  does 
not  very  clearly  distinguish  between  the  state  of 
the  controversy,  as  applied  generally  to  every  kind 
of  public  discourse,  and  the  state  of  the  controver- 


LECT.  VIII.J  CONTROVERliY.  195 

sy,  as  confined  to  the  practice  of  the  bar.  Nor 
does  he  seem  to  have  settled  to  his  own  satisfac- 
tion, or  to  that  of  his  reader  very  precisely,  in 
what  particular  stage  of  judicial  controversy  the 
state  is  to  be  found.  The  difficulties  of  ascertain- 
ing the  true  state  are  indeed  in  all  practical  orato- 
ry much  greater,  than  a  slight  consideration  ^^•ould 
imagine.  They  arise  principally  from  three 
sources,  which  in  the  language  of  the  science  are 
called  co-ordinate,  subordinate,  and  contingent 
states. 

1.  Co-ordinate  stiites  occur,  when  there  arc 
more  questions  than  one,  which,  separately  taken, 
and  independent  of  all  the  rest,  invohe  all  the 
merits  of  the  case.  Such  as  the  several  charges  of 
Cicero  against  Ven-es.  Such  are  the  impeach- 
ments of  modem  times,  both  in  England  and  in 
our  own  country.  Every  article  contains  a  co- 
ordinate state  with  all  the  rest ;  and  tlie}^  ma}-  be 
met  Avith  distinct  and  separate  answers  to  each 
charge,  or  by  one  general  answer  to  all. 

Co-ordinate  states  are  most  frequent  in  the 
practice  of  the  bar.  They  seldom  occur  in  delib- 
erative assemblies  ;  though  sometimes  they  may 
arise  upon  different  sections  of  one  law.  In  the 
pulpit  also  they  are  rare ;    the  subject  being  at  die 


196  STATE   01    THE  [lECT.  VIII. 

preacher's  election,  and  unity  being  generally  a 
point,  which  he  is  ambitious  to  observe.  Yet  a 
sermon  may  occasionally  consist  of  co-ordinate 
states.  Suppose,  for  example,  you  were  to  take 
for  illustration  the  following  text ;  "he  that  jus- 
tifieth  the  wicked,  and  he  that  condemncth  the 
just,  even  they  both  are  abomination  to  the  Lord." 
You  would  have  two  co-ordinate  states,  under  one 
of  which  you  would  enlarge  upon  the  guilt  of  con- 
demning the  just,  and  under  the  other  upon  that  of 
justifying  the  wicked. 

2.  Subordinate  states  are  questions  distinct 
from  the  principal  point ;  controvertible  in  them- 
selves, and  more  or  less  important  to  its  decision. 
They  are  common  to  every  mode  of  public  speak- 
ing. Take,  for  instance,  that  A'cry  common  theme 
of  a  sermon ;  "  and  now  abideth  faith,  hope, 
charity,  these  three  ;  but  the  greatest  of  these  is 
charity."  The  comparative  excellence  of  faith, 
hope,  and  charity,  are  the  subordinate  states.  The 
transcendent  excellence  of  charity  is  the  main 
state ;  and  the  preacher's  drift  is  to  display,  not 
only  the  positive  beauties  of  this  admirable  virtue, 
but  its  relative  merits,  by  comparison  with  the 
two  next  highest  graces  of  Christianity, 


LECT.  VIII.]  CONTROVERSY.  197 

In  deliberative  eloquence  you  will  find  a  re- 
markable instance  of  subordinate  states,  skilfully 
adapted  to  tlie  main  state,  in  Burke's  speech  on 
his  proposal  for  conciliation  between  Great  Britain 
and  her  then  American  colonies.  His  main  state 
was  the  necessity  of  conciliation.  Why  ?  Be- 
cause America  could  not  be  subdued  by  force. 
This  is  a  subordinate  state.  But  tlie  proof  of  his 
main  position  depended  entirely  upon  its  demon- 
stration ;  and  it  was  a  truth  so  unwelcome  to  his 
audience,  that  it  was  incumbent  upon  him  to  place 
every  part  of  his  argument  beyond  the  power  of  a 
cavil.  The  depth  and  extent  of  research,  the  ada- 
mantine logic,  and  tlie  splendor  of  oratory,  with 
which  he  performs  this  task,  has  in  my  own  opin- 
ion no  parallel  in  the  records  of  modern  delib- 
erative eloquence.  It  was  for  wise  and  beneficent 
purposes,  that  providence  suffered  this  admirable 
speech  to  fail  of  conviction  upon  the  sordid  and 
venal  souls,  to  whom  it  was  delivered.  As  a 
piece  of  eloquence,  it  has  never  been  appreciated 
at  half  its  value. 

3.  Incidental  states  are  questions,  arising  oc- 
casionally, and  more  or  less  connected  with  the 
main  question,  without  being  essential  to  it.  They 
•  are  common  to  ev'cry  species  of  orator}^  though 


198  STATE    OF   THE  [lECT.  VIII. 

of  rarer  use  iii  the  desk,  where  they  generally  par- 
take of  the  nature  of  digressions.  But  in  legisla- 
tive assemblies  every  proposition  for  an  amend- 
ment, offered  to  a  bill  upon  its  passage  ;  and  at 
the  bar  every  occasional  motion  for  the  postpone- 
ment of  a  trial,  the  admission  of  a  witness,  the  dis- 
qualification of  a  juror,  or  the  like,  introduces  an 
incidental  question,  having  some  relation  to  the 
main  state  of  the  controversy. 

Tliesc  are  some  of  the  causes,  whence  it  so  of- 
ten happens,  that  public  speakers  deviate  from 
their  proper  subject ;  and  from  these  you  will  at 
once  perceive  the  difficulty  and  the  necessity  of 
eager  attention  to  the  state  of  the  controversy.  I 
sliall  not  trouble  you  w  ith  the  metaphysical  refine- 
ments of  the  ancient  rhetoricians,  and  their  inex- 
haustible multiplication  of  states.  It  will  suffice 
to  say,  that  Cicero  and  Quinctilian  reduce  them  to 
three ;  which  they  call  the  states  of  conjecture,  of 
definition,  and  of  quality ;  equivalent,  as  they  are 
explained  by  Cicero,  to  the  questions,  whether 
a  thing  is  ;  what  it  is  ;  and  how  it  is  ;  to 
wliich  Aristotle  and  some  modem  writers  have 
added  a  state  of  quantity,  or  whether  the  thing  be 
more  or  less.  For  example,  the  state  of  conjec- 
ture is  what,  in  our  modern  courts  of  justice,  is 


LECT.  VIII.]  CONTROVERSY.  199 

termed  an  issue  of  fact.  All  trials  by  jury  there- 
fore are  upon  questions  with  the  state  of  conjec- 
ture. The  reason  given  for  thus  calling  it  is, 
that,  being  a  question  of  fact,  asserted  by  one  par- 
ty and  denied  by  the  other,  the  decision  depends 
upon  the  conjecture  of  the  judge.  If  this  conjec- 
tural etymology  be  correct,  it  implies  no  very  flat- 
tering  compliment  to  the  ancient  practice  of  the 
law ;  since  it  insinuates,  that,  after  all  the  labors  of 
the  learned  counsel,  the  judge  is  left  to  decide  the 
question  by  mere  conjecture  or  guess.  One 
would  suspect,  that  the  rhetorician,  who  first  gave 
the  name,  meant  more  than  meets  tlie  ear,  and 
sheathed  a  sarcasm  in  a  definition.  Quinctilian 
tells  us  indeed,  that  "  conjecture  is  a  certain  direc- 
tion of  reason  towards  truth;  whence  interpreters 
of  dreams  and  omens  were  called  conjectors."  Bui 
conjecture,  if  a  certain,  is  by  no  means  a  sure  di- 
rection of  reason  towards  truth.  Its  essence  on 
the  contrary  is  uncertainty.  The  illustration, 
which  assimilates  the  decision  of  a  question  of 
fact  to  the  interpretation  of  dreams  and  omens, 
was  doubtless  \ery  seriously  adduced  by  Quinc- 
tilian ;  but  how  far  it  liclps  the  matter  I  leave  for 
your  judgments  to  determine ;  only  adding  m}- 
most  earnest  recommendation  to  every  one  of  you. 


200  STATE  OF   THE  [lECT.  VIII. 

Avho  may  liereafter  have  occasion  to  address  a  jurj- 
of  your  country,  that  you  would  entertain  a  nobler 
idea  of  your  profession  and  of  its  duties,  than  to 
leave  the  cause  to  be  determined  upon  a  state  of 
conjecture,  or  by  the  interpretation  of  a  dream. 

The  states  of  definition,  of  quiility,  and  quanti- 
ty, are  all  included  under  the  denomination  of  is- 
sues in  law  in  our  modern  courts  of  justice.  In- 
deed it  is  difficult  to  say  what  great  point  of  dis- 
crimination between  them  could  induce  the  an- 
cients to  place  them  under  separate  heads.  The 
state  of  definition,  for  instance,  is  said  to  be  a  case, 
where  the  fact  is  admitted ;  but  the  question  relates 
to  its  nature,  or  how  the  act  should  be  defined. 
The  instance  alledged  by  Cicero  is  of  a  consecrat- 
ed vessel,  pilfered  from  a  private  house.  The 
question  is,  whether  this  act  were  theft,  or  sacri- 
lege ;  and  the  determination  depends  upon  the 
definition  of  these  two  crimes.  This  state  is  yet 
very  common  in  trials  at  the  bar  upon  criminal 
prosecutions  ;  as  there  are  many  offences,  which, 
according  to  the  circumstances,  with  which  they 
are  committed,  assume  a  lighter  or  a  deeper  dye, 
are  known  by  different  names,  and  punishable  with 
different  penalties.  Thus  theft,  according  to  the 
■s'alue  of  the  article  stolen,  is  called  grand  or  petty 


LECT.  VIII.^  CONTROVERSY.  201 

larceny.  Attended  with  violence  to  the  person, 
becomes  robbery ;  and,  if  with  breaking  open  a 
dwelling  house  in  the  night-time,  blackens  into 
burglary.  These,  according  to  the  ancient  rhet- 
oricians, might  all  have  been  states  of  definition  ; 
that  is,  when  the  facts  upon  a  trial  concerning 
them  were  admitted,  their  criminality  would  de- 
pend upon  the  definitions  of  the  crimes.  But 
they  might  also  have  been  states  of  quantity  ;  that 
is,  whether  the  specific  act  committed  was  more 
or  less  aggravated  ;  whether  it  was  burglary,  or 
robber}',  or  simple  theft.  The  state  of  quality  is 
Upon  agreed  facts ;  but  the  question  is  whether 
they  were  right  or  \vrong.  Not  what  were  the 
gradations  of  guilt,  but  whether  there  was  any 
guilt  at  all.  But  all  these  distinctions  will  be  of 
little  use  to  you.  In  modern  practice  they  are  all 
solved  in  the  clear  and  substantial  distinction  of  is- 
sues of  fact,  and  issues  of  law.  Thus,  in  the  case 
of  Roscius  Amerinus,  Cicero's  oration  is  upon  a 
state  of  conjecture ;  whether  Roscius  committed 
the  deed ;  and  under  our  usages  would  have  been 
an  issue  in  fact.  But  in  the  case  of  Milo  it  was  a 
state  of  quality.  The  fact,  that  Clodius  was  killed 
by  Milo  or  his  servants,  was  undisputed ;  but  Cice 

ro  argues,  that  the  act  was  justifiable  self-defence. 
26 


202  STATE   OF   THE  [lECT.  VIII. 

By  our  customs  it  would  have  been  an  issue  in 
law. 

Thus  much  for  the  doctrine  of  rhetorical 
states  ;  and  to  sum  up  all,  tliat  I  have  said  con- 
cerning them,  you  will  observe,  that  the  term  is 
used  in  two  different  senses  ;  under  one  of  which 
it  is  only  another  word  for  the  subject  of  the 
speaker's  discourse,  and  is  applied  to  every  spe- 
cies of  public  oration ;  while  under  the  other  it  is 
limited  to  judicial  practice,  and  is  equivalent  to 
what  the  common  lawyers  call  the  issue.  Hav- 
ing thus  a  clear  idea  of  what  the  word  means,  to 
make  the  knowledge  of  use  to  yourselves  and 
others,  the  only  purpose,  for  which  any  knowl- 
edge is  worth  acquiring,  let  your  reflections  turn 
upon  the  importance,  and  upon  the  difficulty  to 
every  orator  of  fixing,  and  adhering  in  all  public 
discourses  to  the  state  of  the  controversy,  or 
cause.  But  it  is  also  of  high  importance  to  the 
hearer  of  every  public  speaker.  In  that  point  of 
view  it  is  material  to  you  all.  For  although 
some  of  you  may  never  intend  to  follow  the  prac- 
tice of  public  speaking,  yet  you  will  all  occasion- 
ally be  hearers ;  and,  with  your  advantages  of  edu- 
cation, all  will  be  expected  to  be  judges  of  the 
public  orators.      You  have  been  justly  told,  that 


LECT.  VIII.]  CONTROVERSY.  203 

there  is  an  art  in  silent  reading.  Tlie  art  of  col- 
lecting the  kernel  from  the  shell ;  of  selecting  the 
wheat  from  the  tares.  Let  me  add,  for  it  is  only 
another  modification  of  the  same  truth,  that  there 
is  an  art  in  hearing.  And  one  of  its  most  elabo- 
rate exercises  is  to  ascertain  the  state  of  a  public 
speaker's  discourse.  An  art  perhaps  as  rare,  as 
that  of  orator}^  Pope  has  very  justly  represented 
this  contagion  of  judgments  without  reflection. 

'Tis  hard  to  say,  if  greater  want  of  skill 
Appear  in  writing,  or  in  judging  ill ; 
But  of  the  two  lesB  heinous  is  the  offence 
To  tire  our  patience,  than  mislead  our  sense. 
Some  few  in  that,  but  numbers  err  in  this ; 
Ten  censure  wrong,  for  one,  who  writes  am  iss. 

And  these  observations  apply  to  speaking,  no 
less  than  to  writing.  A  great  source  of  errone- 
ous judgment  upon  public  speaking  arises  from 
the  hearer's  neglect  or  incapacity  to  ascertain  the 
state  of  the  speaker's  cause ;  yet  in  this  are  in- 
volved all  the  essential  parts  of  a  correct  judg- 
ment. From  this  alone  can  a  just  estimate  of 
the  merits  both  of  the  subject  and  of  the  speaker 
be  formed.  Listen  to  the  criticisms  you  will 
hear  on  a  divine  in  the  pulpit,  on  a  legislator  in 


204  STATE  OF   THE  [lECT.  VIII. 

in  the  general  court,  on  a  lauyer  at  the  bar,  and 
nineteen  times  in  twenty  to  what  will  they  amount? 
To  a  comment  upon  some  unusual  w^ord ;    to  a 
cavil  upon  some  grammatical  anomaly;    to  self 
admiring   derision  at  the  detection  of  some  un- 
lucky blunder ;  and  to  profound  admiration  at  the 
glitter  of  some  flashy  metaphor.      These  are  the 
trappings  and  the  suits  of  oratory.      They  can  no 
more  qualifs^  the  auditor  to  pronounce  upon  the 
character  of  a  discourse,   than  a  pearl  necklace 
can  enable  you  to  judge  of  a  woman's  beauty,  or 
a  diamond  ring  can  indicate  to  a   surgeon  the 
soundness  and  vigor  of  a  man's  constitution.    The 
state  of  the  cause  in  rhetoric  is  the  inward  man ; 
the  intenius  homo  of  the  anatomists.     Here  is  the 
seat  of  life ;     here  all  the  functions  of  vitality  are 
performed  ;    and  here  alone  the  nature  of  the  be- 
ing is  to  be  found.     But  this  is  not  to  be  discern- 
ed by  a  vacant  eye,  roaming  without  direction  over 
the  surface.     As  speakers  then  or  as  hearers,  let 
your  first  attention  always  be  directed  to  the  state 
of  the  controversy.  Acquire  the  habit  of  this  atten- 
tion here,  by  its  employment  in  all  your  exercises  of 
composition  ;    and  it  will  soon  need  no  other  re- 
commendation,  than  its  own  success.      Were  I 
required  to  point  out  any  one  thing,  which  most 


LECT.  VIII.]  CONTROVERSY.      .  '205 

forcibly  discovers  the  inventive  powers  of  a  speak- 
er, the  infallible  test  of  oratorical  ability,  the 
stamp, -Mhich  distinguishes  the  orator  from  th.e 
man  of  words  ;  I  should  say,  it  is  the  adaptation  of 
the  speech  to  the  state  of  the  contro\'ersv. 


LECTURE  IX. 


TOPICS. 


THE  division  of  all  oratorical  discourses  into 
demonstrative,  deliberative,  and  judicial  classes,  as 
explained  in  one  of  my  last  lectures,  was  made,  as 
I  then  informed  you,  for  the  purpose  of  facilitating 
tlie  process  of  invention,  and  of  marking  the  dis- 
crimination between  those  topics,  which  furnish 
arguments  to  every  kind  of  discourse,  and  those, 
peculiarly  incident  to  each  of  the  separate  classes. 
The  topics,  which  belong  alike  to  every  species  of 
public  discourse,  are  those,  which  first  claim  our 
attention  ;  and,  in  the  works  of  the  ancient  rhetor- 
icians, assume  exclusively  to  themselves  the  name 
of  topics.  They  were  originally  so  called  from 
the  Greek  word  toto?,  a  place,  as  being  the  com- 


208  TOPICS.  [lect.  IX. 

mon  seats  or  places,  to  Avhich  every  speaker  must 
resort  for  his  arguments.      They  were  aUke  open 
to  both  parties  in  e\  ery  controversy ;  which  indis- 
criminate adaptation,  together  with  the    abuses, 
which  a  misappUcation  of  them  has  often  occasion- 
ed, has  contributed  in  process  of  time  to   bring 
them  into  contempt ;  and  almost  all  the  modem 
writers  upon  rhetoric  have  concurred  to  explode 
them  from  the  science.     It  was  not  without  some 
hesitation,  that  I  determined  to  make  them  the  sub- 
ject of  a  lecture.  But  being  myself  of  opinion,  that 
they  are  not  so  entirely   useless,  as  in'  modem 
times  they  have  generally  been  considered ;    and 
reflecting,    that   the    purpose    of   these    lectures 
is  to  make  you  acquainted    not   only  with  the 
prevailing  systems,  but  with  the  history  of  rhet- 
oric ;  I  concluded  to  give  you  such  an  abstract  of 
them,  as  may  at  least  open  more  thoroughly  to 
}our  view  the  ancient  systems  of  the  science,  al- 
though they  may  never  answer   any  purpose  of 
practical  oratory  for  your  own  use. 

The  rhetorical  topics,  or  common  places  then 
were  the  general  incidents,  or  circumstances,  be- 
longing alike  to  every  subject,  and  distributed  under 
a  certain  number  of  heads,  to  facilitate  the  inven- 
tion of  public  speakers.      The  topics  were  divid- 


LECT.  IX.]  TOPICS.  209 

ed  into  two  general  classes ;  internal  aiid  external. 
The  internal  topics  ai'ose  from  the  bosom  of  the 
subject  itself.  External  topics  arose  from  any  oth- 
er source  without  the  subject,  but  made  applica- 
ble to  it.  They  are  in  our  courts  of  law  included 
under  the  general  designation  of  evidence. 

The  internal  topics  are  said  to  be  sixteen; 
three  of  which,  defmition,  enumeration,  and  notiition 
or  etymology,  embrace  the  whole  subject.  The 
others,  without  being  equally  comprehensive,  arc 
derived  from  its  various  properties,  incidents,  and 
relations.  From  tiieir  names  you  will  perceive  die 
necessity  of  some  further  explanation  to  render 
them  intelligible.  They  are  as  follow.  Genus, 
species,  antecedents,  consequents,  adjuncts,  con- 
jugates, cause,  effect,  contraries,  repugnances, 
similitude,  dissimilitude,  and  comparison. 

Definition  I  presume  it  will  not  be  necessai'v 
for  me  to  define.  But  it  will  not  be  improper  to 
tell  you,  that  definitions  are  of  two  kinds,  that 
is,  of  things  and  of  ideas ;  objects  percejjtible  to 
the  sense,  and  objects  only  conceived  by  the  un- 
derstanding. The  forms  of  definition  are  Aari- 
ous ;  but  the  essential  character  of  tlieni  all  must 
be  to  separate  the   properties,  which  the  defined 

object    has    in   common   vrith    all    others,    Tvoin 
27 


210  TOPICS.  [lect.  IX. 

those,  which  arc  pccuUar  to  itself.     Definition  is 
of  great  use  in  argument,  and  is  at  least  as  service- 
able in  logic,  as  in  rhetoric.      It  is  much  used  by 
the  French  orators,  as  an  instrument  of  amphfica- 
tion.     Thus,  in  the  funeral  oration  of  Turenne  by 
Flechier,  the  orator,  to  display  with  greater  force 
the  combination  of  talents,  required  for  command- 
ing an  arm}-,  resorts  to  an  oratorical  definition. 
"  What,"  says  he,  "  what  is  an  army?     An  army 
is  a  body,  agitated  by  an  infinite  variety  of  passions, 
directed  by  an  able  man  to  the  defence  of  his 
country.     It  is  a  multitude  of  armed  men  blindly 
obedient  to  the  orders  of  a  commander,  and  totally 
ignorant  of  his  designs.     An  assembly  of  base  and 
mercenary  souls  for  the  most  part,  toiling  for  the 
fame  of  kings  and  conquerors,  reg-ardless  of  their 
own;  a  motley  mass  of  libertines  to  keep  in  order; 
of  cowards  to  lead  in  to  battle ;  of  profligates  to  re- 
strain; of  mutineers  to  control."     This  definition, 
you  see,  is  no  panegyric,  and  to  a  superficial  view 
may  appear  to  liave  been  ill  judged  at  the  court  of 
Louis  XIV,  and  ill  timed  in  die  funeral  eulogy  of 
a  great  general.     It  is  precisely  what  constitutes  its 
highest  merit.     In  this  definition  there  was  couch- 
ed a  profound  moral    lesson    to   Louis  himself, 
which  that  prince  had  magnanimity   enough  to 


LEGT.  IX.]  TOPICS.  _  211 

hear  without  offence,  though  not  enough  to  apply 
with  genuine  wisdom  to  his  conduct.  I  question 
whether  any  Parisian  orator  of  the  present  da}- 
would  pronounce  such  a  definition  of  an  army. 

Enumeration  consists  in  the  separation  of  a 
subject  into  its  constituent  parts.  The  letters  of 
Junius,  ranking  in  the  very  first  line  of  eloquence, 
but  far  lower  in  moral  and  political  wisdom,  make 
frequent  use  of  enumeration.  His  first  letter  for 
instance  contains  an  enumeration  of  the  high  of- 
fices of  state,  which  composed  the  administiation ; 
with  a  commentary  to  prove,  that  they  were  all 
held  by  weak  or  wortliless  men.  In  his  address 
to  the  king,  he  asks  him  on  what  part  of  his  sub- 
jects he  could  rely  for  support,  if  the  people  of 
England  should  revolt  ;  and  then  ansv/ers  by 
enumerating  all  the  other  classes  of  people,  then 
composing  the  British  empire,  and  proving,  that 
he  could  depend  upon  none  of  them.  Enumera- 
tion is  of  great  use  in  elaborate  argument,  but 
when  employed  must  be  made  complete  ;  that 
is,  the  utmost  care  must  be  taken  not  to  omit  any 
one  of  the  component  parts. 

Notation,  or  etymology,  seeks  the  meaning  of 
a  word  by  tracing  it  to  its  original  sources.  Its 
use  is  for  elucidation ;    and  its  application  is  most 


212  TOPICS.  [lect.  IX. 

suited  to  discussion  of  judicial  questions.  Near- 
ly akin  to  notation  are  conjugates,  which  are  noth- 
ing more  than  the  different  words,  derived  from 
the  same   root.       Thus,  when  Milton's   Comus 

sa\s 

"  It  is  for  homely  features  to  keep  home, 
They  had  their  name  thence  ;" 

he  gives  an  example  both  of  notation  and  of  con- 
jugates. 

Genus  and  species  must  be  well  understood 
by  all  the  students  of  logic.  They  are  however 
often  employed  in  ai-gumentative  orator}^  and  the 
speaker's  talent  is  discerned  in  the  art,  with  which 
he  descends  from  a  general  to  a  special  proposi- 
tion ;  or  ascends  from  the  special  to  the  general. 
In  technical  language  the  general  position  is  called 
the  thesis,  and  the  special  position  the  h3pothesis. 
In  using  arguments  from  these  topics  you  have  on- 
ly to  remember,  that  the  species  proves  the  ge- 
nus ;  but  the  genus  rather  excludes,  than  proves 
the  species.  This  is  rather  abstruse ;  but  per- 
haps the  following  little  epigram  of  Prior  will 
make  it  plainer. 

Yes,  every  poet  is  a  fool. 

By  demonstration  Ned  can  show  it ; 


iECT.  IX.]  TOPICS.  21S 

Happy,  could  Ned's  inverted  rule 
Prove  every  fool  to  be  a  poet. 

Here  fool  is  the  genus,  and  poet  the  species ;  and 
the  very  point  of  the  epigram  rests  upon  the  ax- 
iom, I  have  just  laid  down,  that  the  species  proves 
the  genus ;  but  that  the  genus  is  better  in  aigu- 
ment  to  exclude,  than  to  prove  the  species. 

Antecedents,  consequents,  and  adjuncts  arc 
circumstances  attendant  upon  the  principal  point, 
in  the  several  relations  of  past,  future,  and  present 
time.  The  application  of  these  topics  is  most  com- 
mon in  arguments  at  law,  upon  questions  of  fact; 
and  aic  there  practised  in  form  of  comment  upon 
what  is  called  circumstantial  evidence.  Antece- 
dents and  consequents  are  said  by  Cicero  more 
properly  to  belong  to  logic,  than  to  rhetoric  ;  be- 
cause they  are  necessary  attendants  upon  die  fact. 
But  adjuncts  are  more  peculiarly  rhetorical  topics  ; 
because  mere  contingencies,  which  leave  large 
room  for  imagination  and  conjecture.  The  re- 
lation of  antecedent  and  consequent  is  stronglv 
marked  in  two  lines  of  Shakspeare. 

She  is  a  woman  ;  therefore  to  be  woo'd ; 
Slic  is  a  woman ;  therefore  to  be  vron. 

Implying,  as  characteristic  of  the  female  character, 


214  TOPICS.  [lECT.  IX. 

that  a  woman  can  neither  be  won  without  antece- 
dent wooing;  nor  wooed  without  consequent  win- 
ning. I  do  not  vouch  for  the  truth  of  the  senti- 
ment, but  only  adduce  the  passage,  as  an  exam- 
ple where  these  topics  are  brought  into  the  most 
pointed  opposition. 

It  requires  a  minute  subtlet}^  of  discrimination 
to  distinguish  between  these  places  and  those  of 
cause  and  effect.  They  are  however  distinguish- 
ed, as  well  as  the  two  kinds  of  cause  and  effect ; 
the  one  universal  and  the  other  occasional.  The 
inference  from  effect  to  cause  is  more  conclu- 
sive, than  that  from  cause  to  effect.  Thus  the  ma- 
terial world,  both  in  reason  and  in  scripture,  is  the 
foundation  of  a  never-answered  argument  to  prove 
the  existence  of  the  Creator.  The  visible  things 
arc  the  effect ;  and  they  prove  beyond  dispute  the 
invisible  things,  the  cause ;  the  eternal  power 
and  godhead  of  the  Creator.  But  this  argument 
cannot  be  inverted.  The  existence  of  the  Crea- 
tor is  not  in  itself  a  proof  of  the  creation.  A  ne- 
-cessary  caution  in  the  use  of  this  argument  from 
effect  to  cause  is  not  to  trace  the  connexion  too 
far,  by  ascending  to  a  cause  too  remote.  The 
reasoning  in  such  cases  becomes  ludicrous.  Thus 
Shakspeare's  Polonius  undertakes  with  great  so- 


LECT.  IX.]  TOPICS.  215 

lemnity  to  find  out  the  cause  of  Hamlet's  madness. 
And,  after  much  circumlocution  in  praise  of  brev- 
ity,  and  much  prologue  to  introduce    nothing, 
when   he  comes   to  assign  the  cause,  it  is,  "  I 
have  a  daughter;"    and   then,    through   a  long 
and  minute    deduction,   infers    from  his   having 
a  daughter  the  lord  Hamlet's  madness ;  to  make 
all  which  elaborate  reasoning  the  more  ridiculous, 
you  will  recollect,  that  the  madness,   so  shrewdly 
deduced  from  its  cause  by  Polonius,  was  all  the 
time  feigned.     So,  in  the  Dunciad,  Dennis  draws 
the  lamentable  conclusion,  that  he  is  sixty  years  of 
age  from  a  cause  still  more  remote. 

And  am  1  then  three -score  ! 
Ah  1  why,  ye  gods,  must  two  and  two  make  four  I 

Another  nice  distinction  is  that  between  contra- 
ries and  repugnancies.  Thus,  in  the  passage  from 
Sallust,  Concordia  res  pai'vae  crescunt,  discor- 
dia  maximae  dilabuntur  ;  the  observation  is  taken 
from  the  contraries,  concord  and  discord.  But 
w^hen  Pope,  speaking  of  some  character,  says  he 
was 

So  obliging,  that  he  ne'er  obliged ; 

the  assertion  is   drawn  from  repugnancy ;    from 
things     generally    inconsistent,    but    sometimes 


216  TOPICS.  [lect.  IX. 

reconcileable.  The  use  of  contraries  gives  energy 
to  the  thought;  tliat  of  repugnancies  often  gives 
smartness  to  the  expression.  The  combination  of 
repugnancies  is  the  most  fruitful  source  of  the  an- 
tithesis ;  a  figure,  of  which  I  shall  say  more  here- 
after. 

Similitude,  dissimilitude,  and  comparison, 
stand  last  in  the  list  of  internal  topics,  and  are 
among  the  most  copious  sources  of  rhetorical  or- 
nament. These  peculiarly  belong  to  rhetoric  ;  as 
those  of  cause  and  effect,  antecedent  and  conse- 
quent, are  more  especially  suited  to  logic.  The 
distinction  between  similitude  and  comparison  is, 
that  the  former  has  reference  to  the  quality,  the 
latter  to  the  quantity.  Comparison  is  between 
more  and  less ;  similitude  is  between  good  and 
bad.  Thus  when  Livy  says  of  Hannibal,  who 
rested  upon  the  Alps  some  time  with  his  army, 
that  he  hung  like  a  tempest  upon  the  declivities  of 
the  mountains,  it  is  a  likeness  by  similitude. 
But  when  a  learned  writer  says,  that  the  sublimity 
of  the  scriptural  prophets  exceeds  that  of  Homer, 
as  much  as  thunder  is  louder  than  a  whisper,  it  is 
a  likeness  by  comparison.  Similitude  draws  ob- 
jects together  to  show  their  resemblance  ;  compari- 
son separates  them  to  mark  their  difference. 


LECT.  IX.]  TOPICS.  217 

From  the  internal  let  us  now  pass  to  the  con- 
sideration of  the  external,  or,  as  they  are  other- 
wise called,  the  inartificial  topics.  Inartificial, 
not  that  their  management  requires  less  art,  than 
that  of  the  others  ;  it  requires  perhaps  more ;  but 
because  they  are  not  inherent  in  the  subject  itself, 
upon  which  you  discourse  ;  but  arise  from  some 
CAiernal  source.  There  is  gieat  diversity  and  no 
small  confusion  among  the  ancient  rhetoricians 
upon  this  part  of  the  subject,  which  varies  in  the 
Greek  and  Roman  writers,  according  to  the  vari- 
eties in  their  political  and  judicial  institutions  ;  and 
most  of  which  is  altogether  inapplicable,  except 
under  a  different  modification,  to  ours. 

The  external  topics,  according  to  Quinctilian, 
are  six.  First,  prejudications  ;  second,  common 
fame ;  third,  torture  ;  fourth,  written  documents  ; 
fifth,  oaths ;   and  sixth,  witnesses. 

1.  Prejudications  were  principally  confined  to  the 
bar.  They  were  of  three  kinds.  First,  precedents, 
or  adjudged  cases,  involving  the  same  point  of  law, 
as  that  in  litigations.  These  are  as  much  used 
among  us,  as  they  were  among  the  Romans  ;  and 
every  lawyer's  library  principally  consists  of  such 
adjudged  cases   in  elaborate  compilations  under 

the  name  of  reports.      Second,  previous  decisions 
28 


218  TOPICS.  [lECT.  IX. 

on  the  same  question  between  other  parties.  As 
for  instance  in  the  case  of  Ciuentius  ;  two  of  the 
accomplices  of  Oppianicus  had  already  been  tried, 
and  convicted  ;  from  which  circumstance  Cicero 
strongly  urges  the  argument  against  Oppianicus 
himself.  Third,  decisions  of  the  same  cause 
and  between-  the  same  parties,  before  tribunals  of 
inferior  jurisdiction,  from  which  there  was  an  ap- 
peal. The  second  and  third  of  these  kinds  of 
prejudication  are  as  familiar  to  our  laws,  as  to  the 
Roman  code  ;  but  they  do  not  furnish  the  orator 
the  same  fund  of  argument ;  because  it  is  a  set- 
tled maxim  of  the  common  law,  that  the  decision  of 
the  same  question  between  other  parties,  or  the  de- 
cision of  an  inferior  tribunal  is  upon  the  appeal  of  no 
authority  whatsoever;  and  the  case  must  be  tried,  as 
if  it  had  never  before  been  judicially  examined- 
Thus  the  verdict  of  a  coroner's  inquest,  the  in- 
dictment of  a  grand  jury,  or  the  sentence  of  an  infe- 
rior court,  appealed  from,  cannot  with  propriety  be 
mentioned,  as  matter  of  argument  on  either  side  of 
a  cause.  In  this  respect  our  system  of  rendering 
justice  has  improved  upon  that  of  the  civil  law. 
Another  difference  between  the  common  and  the 
civil  law  makes  a  different  application  and  modifi- 
cation of  arguments,  drawn  from  prejudication, 


lECT.  IX.]  TOPICS.  219 

necessary.  By  the  Roman  system  the  questions 
of  law  and  fact,  involved  in  a  cause,  were  always 
blended  together,  and  decided  by  the  same  judges. 
By  the  common  law  every  question  of  law  was  de- 
cided by  the  judge,  and  every  question  of  fact  by 
the  jury ;  and,  excepting  in  cases  where  the  ques- 
tions of  law  and  fact  are  so  interwoven  together, 
that  the  decision  of  one  involves  that  of  the  other, 
this  doctrine  of  the  common  law  still  prevails  in 
practice.  Hence  the  authority  of  precedents,  pre- 
judications on  mere  points  of  law,  is  much  greater, 
than  in  the  age  of  Quinctilian  ;  while  his  second 
class  of  prejudications,  chiefly  relating  to  facts, 
which  had  so  much  weight  in  his  time,  has  none 
or  next  to  none  in  ours.  I  say  next  to  none,  be- 
cause by  the  principles  of  our  law  it  ought  to  have 
none.  Not  but  that,  in  your  attendance  upon  ju- 
dicial courts,  you  will  sometimes  hear  a  speaker  ar- 
gue from  this,  and  even  from  the  third  class  of  pre- 
judications. There  always  will  be  some  weight  in 
such  arguments  and  therefore  they  often  will  be  in- 
troduced for  want  of  better.  But  our  institutions 
very  justly  counteract  that  natural  first  propensity 
to  adopt  the  opinions  of  others  ;  and  forbid  juries 
from  putting  any  trust  in  the  presentment  of  an  hv 


220  lopics.  [lect.  IX. 

quest,  and  judges  from  paying  any  regard,  on  ap- 
peal, to  the  judgment  of  the  subordinate  tribunal. 

There  is  another  peculiarity  in  our  institutions, 
which  in  like  manner  forbids,  and  yet  instigates 
occasionally  the  use  of  arguments  from  prejudica- 
tion, in  our  legislative  assemblies,  and  in  deliber- 
ative discourses.  Our  legislatures,  as  you  know, 
generally  consist  of  two  separate  assemblies ;  a  sen- 
ate and  a  house  of  representatives.  Ever)-^  law,  be- 
fore it  is  enacted,  must  be  assented  to  by  a  majority 
of  each  of  these  assemblies.  It  is  very  common, 
upon  a  debate  in  either  branch  upon  a  question, 
which  has  been  acted  upon  in  the  other,  to  alledgethe 
determination  of  the  co-ordinate  body,  as  an  argu- 
ment for  or  against  the  thing  itself.  But  the  same 
remark  is  here  applicable,  which  I  have  just  made 
with  regard  to  the  second  and  third  kinds  of  judi- 
cial prejudications.  Such  arguments  are  incon- 
sistent with  the  fundamental  principle,  upon  which 
the  legislative  power  is  divided  between  two  dis- 
tinct bodies  of  men.  They  are  contrary  to  the 
rules  of  order  in  every  such  assembly.  Yet  such 
is  the  sympathetic  power  of  opinion,  that  they  are 
int|-oduced  into  almost  every  debate,  and  are  sel- 
dom entirely  without  their  influence. 


L£C 


T.  IX.]  TOPICS.  221 


Wlien  prejudication  is  adduced  by  way  of  ar- 
gument, the  speaker,  adducing  it,  naturally  dwells 
upon  every  circumstance,  which  may  contribute 
to  its  weight ;  and  enlarges  on  cxtry  favorable  in- 
cident of  reputation  and  character,  which  adds  to 
its  authority  ;  and  upon  every  feature  or  siniilaiity 
between  the  case  decided  and  that  in  contro^•crsy. 
His  adversary,  on  the  other  hand,  diligendy  marks 
the  points  of  dissimilarity,  or  assails  the  reputation  of 
those,  from  whom  the  decision  is  adduced.  This 
requires  much  delicacy  of  management.  It  is  usual 
to  profess  at  least  a  respect  of  form  for  die  inten- 
tions of  those,  whose  authority  is  opposed ;  and 
when  occasions  arise,  as  they  sometimes  must,  le- 
quiring  an  exception  to  this  rule,  and  corrupt  mo- 
tives are  to  be  denounced,  moderation  of  expres- 
sion becomes  at  once  one  of  the  most  difficult  and 
most  necessaiy  parts  of  the  orator's  address. 

2.  Common  fame  is  a  copious  topic  for 
argument  in  deliberative  and  demonstrati\  e  dis- 
courses, but  is  generally  excluded  from  the  ju- 
dicial practice  of  modern  nations.  As  evidence, 
it  is  by  the  rules  of  the  common  law  never  admis- 
sible, when  other  exidence  can  be  supposed  to  ex- 
ist. The  reputation  of  a  witness,  the  marriage  of 
persons  deceased,  who  lived  together  as  man  and 


222  TOPICS.  [lect.  IX. 

wife,  and  some  other  cases  of  that  kind  are  al- 
lowed to  be  proved  by  common  fame ;  but  in 
general  the  extreme  inaccuracy  of  such  testimony 
has  sJmt  the  doors  of  our  courts  of  justice  against 
it.  Common  fame  and  prejudication  can  seldom 
or  never  extend  further,  than  to  warrant  a  pre- 
sumption. The  sfjcaker,  appealing  to  it,  may  ex- 
ercise his  ingenuity  in  deriving  from  the  concur- 
rent assent  of  multitudes  the  probability  of  truth. 
But  common  fame  herself  is  no  better  reputed  in 
the  M'orld,  than  in  the  courts  of  common  law. 
Her  testimony  stands  so  degraded  in  universal  es- 
timation, that  upon  a  controverted  fact  there  is 
some  danger  in  referring  to  her ;  as  a  skilful  oppo- 
nent takes  advantage  of  the  very  reference  to  her, 
and  urges,  that  the  truth  is  to  be  found  in  the  dis- 
belief of  what  she  asserts,  and  the  full  faith  of  what 
she  denies. 

3.  Torture,  which  was  a  topic  of  contin- 
ual recurrence  among  the  Greeks  and  Romans,  is 
still  applied  in  many  parts  of  modern  Europe.  It 
has  often  been  considered,  as  the  most  powerful  of 
all  the  tests  of  truth  ;  but  its  use  is  equally  abhor- 
rent to  the  spirit  of  freedom,  of  reason,  and  of  hu- 
manity. Among  the  ancients  slaves  only  were 
subjected  to  it ;  but  wherever  it  has  been  practised 


LECT.  IX.]  TOPICS.  223 

it  has  been  thought  to  produce  evidence  of  the 
strongest  kind ;  and  the  person  tortured  has  been 
said  to  be  put  to  the  question.  Fortunately  for 
us,  we  can  never  know  its  effects,  but  by  specu- 
lation and  tlie  experience  of  others.  It  is  not 
among  the  ways  and  means  of  our  oratoiy. 

4.  Written  documents  compose  a  great 
proportion  of  the  testimonies,  admitted  as  evi- 
dence in  the  courts  of  law.  Papers  of  this  de- 
scription give  rise  to  oratorical  controversy,  either 
upon  their  authenticity,  or  upon  their  meaning  or 
construction,  or  upon  their  legal  effect.  These 
are  subjects  however  at  this  day  more  proper  for 
die  investigation  of  students  at  law,  than  of  the  mere 
rhetorician.  The  law  prescribes  how  every  doc- 
ument must  be  executed  for  admission,  as  evi- 
dence in  the  courts.  It  contains  rules,  founded 
upon  sound  logic,  for  settling  the  questions  from 
ambiguity  of  expression,  from  disagreement  be- 
tween the  words  and  intention,  from  repugnan- 
ces, from  analogies  of  reasoning,  and  from  varie- 
ties of  interpretation.  It  has  dictated  also  their 
forms  of  expression,  the  legal  operation  of  which 
has  been  settled  for  many  ages.  To  your  future 
studies  I  must  then  refer  you  for  a  further  elucida- 
tion of  tliis  subject. 


224  TOPICS.  [lect.  IX. 

5.  The  importance  of  oaths,  as  oratorical 
topics,  is  also  princij:)aUy  confined  to  the  practice 
of  the  law.  The  oath  of  the  parties  was  one  of 
the  common  modes  of  trial  among  the  Greeks 
and  Romans.  It  is  also  admitted  in  certain  cases 
both  by  the  common  and  statute  laws  of  this  com- 
monwealth ;  but  the  general  maxim  of  our  law  is, 
that  no  man  can  be  received  as  a  witness  in  his 
own  cause  ;  and  it  usually  disqualifies  the  testimo- 
ny of  every  person,  interested  in  the  event  of  the 
trial.  The  oath  of  a  party  therefore,  even  when 
admitted,  can  never  have  much  weight,  and  can 
l^e  of  use  to  an  orator  only  on  the  failure  of  all 
otlier  testimony. 

6.  Witnesses  constitute  the  last  external 
topic,  concerning  which  I  am  to  speak.  And  un- 
der this  name  are  included  authorities  from  emi- 
nent writers,  common  proverbs,  and  oracles  among 
the  ancients,  instead  of  which  we  substitute  the  sa- 
cred scriptures.  There  are  also  two  modes  of 
collecting  the  testimony  of  living  witnesses ;  that 
is,  one  vv'hen  they  are  present,  by  word  of  mouth ; 
the  other  in  their  absence,  when  it  is  reduced  to 
the  form  of  written  depositions.  The  difference 
between  these  two  modes  of  evidence,  the  ad- 
vantages and  inconveniences,  attending   each  of 


LEC 


T.  IX.]  topics.  225 


them,  and  the  cases,  in  which  they  are  admissible, 
or  must  be  excluded,  belong,  like  almost  every 
part  of  these  external  topics,  to  the  same  theory  of 
evidence,  which  occupies  so  large  a  portion  of  the 
lawyers'  studies. 

Such  are  the  topics,  both  internal  and  external, 
which  occupy  so  high  a  station  in  all  the  ancient 
books  upon  rhetoric.  You  will  readily  conceive 
what  infinite  variety  of  matter  they  present  to  the 
use  of  an  orator.  But  besides  the  direct  employ- 
ment of  them  all,  they  may  be  applied  also  indi- 
rectly under  a  fictitious  presentment  of  facts,  with 
the  aid  of  hypothesis.  The  hypothesis  of  an  ora- 
tor bears  the  same  proportion  to  his  thesis,  tliat 
traverse  bears  to  plane  sailing  in  navigation.  It  is 
not  included  among  the  tt^pics,  but  includes  them 
all  under  a  different  modification.  Hypothesis  is 
the  potential  or  subjunctive  mood  of  rhetoric  ;  fre- 
quently used  in  every  kind  of  public  discourse- 
It  is  peculiarly  calculated  to  excite  attention,  and 
rivet  the  impression  of  the  topics,  employed  under 
it.  Read  for  instance  Junius'  address,  whicli  I 
have  already  quoted,  and  commonh'  called  his  let- 
ter to  the  king.  It  is  however  in  form  a  hypothet- 
ical speech  to  the  king,  introduced  ih  a  letter  to 

the  printer,  and  a  considerable  part  of  its  force  is 
29 


226  TOPICS.  [lect.  IX. 

owing  to  the  hypothesis,  upon  which  it  is  raised. 
Hypothesis  is  a  favorite  artifice  with  all  orators  of 
a  brilliant  imagination.  It  gives  a  Hcense  of  ex- 
cursion to  fancy,  which  cannot  be  allowed  to  the 
speaker,  while  chained  to  the  diminutive  sphere  of 
relatives.  In  deliberative  and  judicial  orations,  it 
affords  an  opportunity  to  say  hypothetically  what 
the  speaker  would  not  dare  to  say  directly.  The 
artifice  is  indeed  so  often  practised  to  evade  all  re- 
straint upon  speech,  that  there  is  at  least  no  inge- 
nuity in  its  employment.  The  purposes,  for 
which  it  is  resorted  to  from  this  motive,  are  often 
so  disingenuous,  that  in  seeing  it  used  and  abus- 
ed, as  you  will  upon  numberless  occasions  through- 
out your  lives,  you  will  probably  go  a  step  beyond 
the  conclusion  of  the  philosophical  clown  in  Shak- 
speare,  and  settle  in  the  opinion,  that  there  is  much 
vice,  as  well  as  "  much  virtue  in  if." 

Thus  much  may  suffice  for  the  doctrine  of  the 
topics,  or  loci  communes,  which  were  deemed  of 
vast  importance  to  the  students  both  of  logic  and 
rhetoric  in  ancient  times,  but  which  the  modem 
teachers  of  eloquence  have  almost  unanimously 
pronounced  to  be  utterly  useless.  If  mere  au- 
thority were  to  decide  the  question,  the  writers  ot 
later  ages  must  excuse  me  for    receiving  with 


LECT.  IX.]  TOPICS.  227 

great  caution  any  principle  in  the  theory  of  the 
science,  directly  opposed  to  the  opinion  and  the 
practice  of  Cicero.  But  considering  the  subject, 
as  divested  of  all  sanction  from  venerable  names, 
on  its  own  merits  I  do  not  deem  the  topics  to  be 
altogether  without  their  use.  Their  proper  use 
may  be  illustrated  by  reference  to  an  usage,  with 
which  you  are  all  well  acquainted. 

In  entering  an  apothecarj^'s  shop  you  have  of- 
ten observed  its  walls  lined  with  a  ^^•ainscot' 
ing  of  small  boxes,  on  the  outside  of  which  you 
have  seen,  painted  in  capital  letters,  certain  cabalist- 
ical  words,  most  of  which  I  presume  }  ou  found 
yourselves  quite  unable  to  decypher.  You  ask 
the  attendant  at  the  shop  for  the  medicinal  article  you 
want;  he  goes  to  one  of  his  boxes, and  in  a  moment 
brings  you  the  drug,  for  which  you  applied ;  but 
which  you  never  would  have  discovered  from  the 
names  upon  the  boxes.  Now  the  topics  are,  as  I 
conceive,  to  the  young  orator,  exactly  what  the 
apothecary's  painted  boxes  are  to  his  apprentice. 
To  the  total  stranger  they  are  impenetrable  hiero- 
glyphics. To  the  thorough  bred  physician  they  may 
be  altogether  unnecessar}-.  But  in  that  interme- 
diate stage,  when  arrangement  is  needed  to  relieve 
the  mind  from  the  pressure  of  accumulation,  the 


228  TOPICS.  |]lect.  ix. 

paiiitcd  boxes  and  the  rhetorical  topics  may  be  of 
great  use  to  the  young  practitioner.  The  topics 
are  the  ticketed  boxes,  or  the  labelled  phials,  in 
Avhich  die  arguments  of  the  speaker  are  to  be 
found.  And  although  telling  us  where  to  look 
for  an  argument  does  not  furnish  us  the  argu- 
ment itself,  yet  it  may  suggest  the  train  of 
thought,  and  add  facility  to  the  copiousness  of 
the  orator.  This  is  all  the  benefit,  that  can  be 
derived,  or  that  I  presume  it  was  ever  pretend- 
ed could  be  derived  from  a  thorough  knowl- 
edge of  the  topics.  They  cannot  give,  but  they 
may  assist  invention.  They  exhibit  the  subject 
in  all  its  attitudes,  and  under  every  diversity  of 
light  and  shade.  They  distribute  the  field  of  con- 
templation among  a  number  of  distinct  proprietors, 
and  mark  out  its  divisions  by  metes  and  bounds. 
A  perfect  master  of  tlie  topics  may  be  a  verj'  mis- 
erable orator  ;  but  an  accomplished  orator  will  not 
disdain  a  thorough  knowledge  of  the  topics. 


LECTURE  X. 


ARGUMENTS  AND  DEMONSTRATIVE  ORATORY. 


HAVING  in  my  preceding  lectures  explain- 
ed to  you  the  nature,  and  submitted  to  your  re- 
flections my  opinion  of  the  real  worth  of  those  in- 
cidents in  the  science  of  rhetoric,  usually  known 
by  the  denomination  of  the  state  of  the  controver- 
sy, and  general  topics,  internal  as  well  as  external, 
the  course  of  my  subject  now  leads  me  to  consider, 
separately  and  successively,  the  arguments  suitable 
to  each  of  the  three  classes  of  orations,  the  de- 
monstrative, the  deliberative,  and  tlie  judicial. 
This  arrangement  is  enjoined  by  the  regulations  of 
the  institution  ;  and  is  perhaps  the  best,  that  could 
have  been  devised,  as  it  unfolds  to  your  view  the 
principles  of  the  rhetorical  science  in  the  same  or- 


230  ARGUMENTS    AND  [lECT.  X. 

der  of  time,  as  they  may  be  expected  to  present 
themselves  to  your  use  for  practical  application. 
Whenever  you  shall  have  occasion  to  speak  in 
public,  the  first  object,  to  wliich  your  attention 
will  be  reciuircd,  can  be  no  other,  than  to  ascertain 
precisely  the  state  of  the  controversy,  or  in  other 
words  the  subject  of  your  discourse.  The  next 
will  be  to  collect  from  the  whole  stock  of  your 
ideas  those,  ^vhich  may  be  most  subservient  to  tlie 
design,  for  which  you  are  to  speak ;  and  the  rhetor- 
ical topics  were  devised  to  facilitate  this  process. 
Your  third  consideration  will  be  to  setde  specifical- 
ly upon  those  ideas  or  arguments,  best  adapted  to 
the  particular  nature  of  discourse.  The  argu- 
ments, specially  adapted  to  each  of  the  three  kinds 
of  public  speaking,  may  be  and  often  are  introduc- 
ed to  the  greatest  advantage  in  discourses  of  the 
other  classes ;  but  there  are  certain  ai'guments, 
adapted  in  a  peculiar  manner  to  each  of  the  three 
departments,  which  still  retain  their  character  and 
denomination,  even  when  used  in  the  service  of 
the  others. 

The  arguments,  suited  to  either  of  the  three 
kinds  of  discourses,  are  such,  as  apply  more  espe- 
cially to  the  purjoose  of  that  class,  to  which  they 
belong ;    and  to  determine  what  that  is  we  must 


LECT.X.]     DEMONSTRATIVE  ORATORY.  231 

recur  to  those  original  and  fundamental  distinc- 
tions, which  I  have  already  noticed.  You  will  re- 
member then,  that  the  central  point,  to  which  all 
the  rays  of  argument  should  converge,  in  delibera- 
tive oratory  is  utility  ;  in  judicial  discourses  is 
justice ;  and  in  demonstrative  orations  is  praise  or 
censure. 

Every  discourse  then,  of  which  panegyric  or 
reprobation  upon  persons  or  things  is  the  main 
purpose,  must  be  included  in  the  demonstrative 
class.  It  embraces  accordingly  a  very  numerous 
description  of  oratorical  performances,  both  of  an- 
cient and  of  modern  times.  Amons:  the  Greeks 
and  Romans  panegyrics  upon  the  gods,  upon 
princes,  generals,  and  distinguished  men  dead  or 
living,  and  even  upon  cities  and  countries,  were 
frequenriy  ^vritten  and  delivered.  Funeral  eulo- 
gies upon  deceased  persons  of  illustrious  rank, 
male  or  female,  were  often  composed  and  pro- 
nounced in  public  by  their  kinsmen  ;  a  custom, 
to  which  the  first  emperors  themselves,  Julius 
Caesar,  Augustus,  and  Tiberius,  successively  con- 
formed. These  were  orations  strictly  and  al- 
together demonstrative.  But  the  panegyric  of 
Pompey,  interwoven  by  Cicero  into  his  oration  for 
the  Manilian  law,  that  of  Caesar  in  the  oration 


232  ARGUMENTS  AND  [lECT.  X. 

for  Marcellus,  that  of  Literature  in  the  oration 
for  Archias  ;  the  panegyric  of  Trajan  by  the 
younger  Pliny ;  and  Cicero's  invectives  against 
Antony  in  his  philippics,  against  Piso,  Catiline, 
Clodius,  and  Verres,  in  many  other  of  his  orations, 
are  applications  of  the  demonstrative  manner  in  cer- 
tain parts  of  deliberative,  or  judicial  discourses. 

In  modern  ages  and  christian  countries  funeral 
sermons  are  every  where  customary.  With  the 
Roman  Catholics  the  panegyric  of  saints  is  an  or- 
dinary exercise  of  public  eloquence.  Some  of 
the  most  illustrious  scientific  and  literary  societies 
in  France  were  accustomed,  upon  the  decease 
of  a  member,  to  hear  a  short  biographical  eu- 
logy pronounced  upon  him  by  their  secretary. 
During  a  long  series  of  years  every  member  of 
the  French  academy  was  expected,  on  the  day  of 
his  reception,  to  deliver  a  panegyric  upon  Louis 
XIV,  the  first  patron,  and  upon  Cai'dinal  Riche- 
lieu, the  founder  of  that  institution.  The  learned 
academies  of  "France  were  accustomed  also  to  pro- 
pose the  panegyric  of  some  distinguished  person- 
age in  French  history,  as  a  subject  for  ingenious 
competition,  with  the  offer  of  a  prize  or  premium 
for  the  best  performance.  These  were  also  dis- 
courses strictly  demonstrative,  though,  instead  of 


LECT.  X.]  DEMONSTRATIVE  ORATORY.     233 

being  delivered  by  their  authors,  the  prize  com- 
position alone  was  read  at  a  public  meeting  of  the 
society. 

But  as  demonstrative  eloquence  has  been  thus 
assiduously  cultivated  and  zealously  encouraged 
in  France,  it  has  in  a  very  singular  and  unaccount- 
able manner  been  neglected  in  England.  Of  the 
British  nation  may  emphatically  be  said,  what  one 
of  their  most  eloquent  writers  has  confessed  of 
himself;  "they are  not  conversant  in  the  language 
of  panegyric."  How  has  it  happened,  that  a  peo- 
ple, illustrious  by  a  long  catalogue  of  worthies, 
among  the  brightest  in  the  fields  of  fame,  should 
have  taken  so  little  pains,  or  rather  should  so  stu- 
diously have  avoided,  to  bestow  upon  them  the 
merited  mead  of  glory  ?  Their  substitute  for  the 
clarion  of  fame  is  a  marble  monument  in  St.  Paul's 
church,  or  Westminster  Abbey.  This  is  indeed 
a  fair  and  honorable  distinction  ;  a  powerful  in- 
centive to  generous  deeds,  and  a  noble  expression 
of  national  gratitude.  But  after  all  a  tomb-stone 
is  in  its  proper  character  a  record  of  mortality. 
The  approbation,  the  applause  of  their  fellow  men, 
are  among  the  most  precious  rewards,  which 
prompt    the    most    exalted   spirits    to   deathless 

achievements ;    and  tlie  sepulchres  of  the  dead  are 
30 


^4  ARGUMENTS  AND  [lECT.  X, 

not  the  stages,  upon  which  this  applause  and  ap- 
l)robation  can  properly  ascend.  Non  quia  inter- 
cedendum  putcm  imaginibus,  quae  marmore  aut 
acre  fmguiUur ;  sed  ut  vultus  hominum,  ita 
simulacra  vultus  imbecilla  ac  mortalia  sunt ; 
forma  mentis  aetenia,  quani  tcnerc  ct  expri- 
mere  non  per  alienam  materiem  et  urtem,  sed 
tuis  ipse  moribus  possis.  Have  the  Brit- 
ish nation  been  insensible  to  the  truth  of  this 
sublime  sentiment  ?  Have  they  believed,  that 
such  perishable  and  frail  materials,  as  brass  and 
marble,  could  bear  the  proper  memorial  of  imper- 
ishable minds  ?  Or  why  have  they  been  so  pe- 
nurious of  their  praise  ?  The  funeral  sermon  is 
the  only  oratorical  form,  in  which  they  have  been 
accustomed  to  utter  eulogy  j  and  even  that  dis- 
course lias  rather  been  devoted  to  soothe  private 
sorrows,  or  to  gratify  personal  friendship,  than  to 
testify  public  gratitude-  or  admiration.  They 
once  held  a  theatrical  celebration  in  honor  of  Shak 
speare,  and  they  have  commemorated  Handel  in 
solemnizing  the  strains  of  his  own  harmony.  But 
on  these,  on  all  other  like  occasions,  rhetoric  has 
remained  in  obstinate  and  immoveable  silence. 
Alfred  and  Elizabeth,  Shakspeare  and  Milton, 
Bacon   and  Locke,  Newton  and  Napier,  Mail- 


LECT.X.]     DEMONSTRATIVE  ORATORY.  235 

borough  and  Nelson,  Chatham  and  Burke,  slum- 
ber in  death,  unhonored  by.  the  grateful  offerings 
of  panegyric.  The  British  poets  indeed  have 
often  spoken  with  exquisite  pathos  and  beauty  the 
language  of  eulogy  ;  but  in  the  whole  compass 
of  English  literature  there  is  not  one  effusion  of 
eloquence,  which,  like  those  of  Isocrates,  Cicero, 
and  Pliny  in  Greece  and  Rome,  or  those  of  Bos- 
suet  and  Flechier,  Mascaron  and  Thomas  in 
France,  immortalize  at  once  the  speaker  and  his 
subject,  and  interweave,  in  one  immortal  texture, 
the  glories  of  achievement  with  those  of  celebra- 
tion. 

Descending  in  general  from  British  ancestr}-, 
speaking  their  language,    and  educated  in  their 
manners,  usages,  and  customs,  we  have  in  some 
degree  inherited  this  unaccountable  indifference  to 
the  memor}'  of  departed  merit.      I  sa}'  in  some 
degree,  for  funeral  sermons  are  much  more   fre- 
quent in  our  usage,  tlian  in  that  of  the  nation, 
whence  we  originate.     But  the  funeral  sermon  is 
perhaps  the    most   objectionable  form,  in  which 
panegyrical  eloquence  could  be  revived.     It  is  too 
common  to  be  much  valued,  and  too  indiscrimi- 
nate to  be  very  valuable.      But  we  ha\  e  occasion^ 
al  funeral  orations  in  honor  of  distinguished  per- 


256  ARGUMENTS  AND  [lECT.  X. 

sonages ;  and  we  have  numerous  anniversary  dis- 
courses, which  might  be  made  the  vehicles  of 
honorable  and  precious  commendation.  But  the 
acquaintance  of  our  public  orators  is  generally  so 
exclusively  limited  to  English  literature,  they  are 
accustomed  to  look  for  models  of  composition  so 
invariably  to  English  example,  that,  where  this  has 
failed  them,  they  seem  to  have  been  at  a  loss  where 
to  resort  for  a  substitute ;  or,  with  more  confidence 
than  safety,  they  have  relied  upon  the  fertility  of 
their  own  genius,  and  nobly  disdained  either  to 
seek  models  from  the  past,  or  to  furnish  them  for 
the  future.  Certain  at  least  it  is,  that  our  success 
in  this  department  of  literature  has  not  been  cor- 
respondent to  our  partialities  in  its  favor.  The 
faculties  of  our  countrymen  have  been  more  con- 
spicuous in  action,  than  in  celebration.  The 
worthies  of  elder  times  have  often  been  commem- 
orated, but  seldom  eulogized ;  and  the  spirit  of 
Washington,  in  the  very  abodes  of  blessedness, 
must  have  nauseated  at  some  of  the  reeking  hon- 
ors, which  have  issued  from  his  tomb. 

Yet  although  the  English  language  is  destitute 
of  orations  strictly  demonstrative  in  the  line  of  pan- 
egyric, there  are  however  passages  of  the  panegyr- 
ical description,  interspersed  in  the  speeches  of  their 


L3E.CT.  X.]    DEMONSTHATIVE   ORATORY.  237 

parliamentary  orators,  m  hich  prove,  that  its  proper 
st3'le  has  not  always  been  either  unknown  or  neg- 
lected. The  speeches  of  Burke,  which  were 
published  by  himself,  contain  some  admirable 
specimens  of  this,  as  well  as  of  eveiy  other  kind 
of  eloquence.  I  refer  you  particulaiiy  to  his  eulo- 
gies of  Howard,  of  lord  Bathurst,  of  Charles 
Townsend,  of  Sir  George  Saville,  and  of  Mr. 
Dunning ;  but  above  all  to  that  of  the  American 
people  ;  the  fairest  and  most  glorious  tribute  of 
panegyric,  that  ever  was  uttered  in  their  honor. 
As  a  memorial  of  the  merits  of  your  forefathers, 
it  may  be  recommended  to  your  patriotism  ;  as 
an  effort  of  the  most  splendid  eloquence,  to  your 
taste ;  and  as  a  lesson  of  the  most  elevated  moral- 
ity, to  your  imitation.  Every  line  of  praise  upon 
the  fathers  should  be  rccei\ed,  as  a  line  of  duty  for 
the  children. 

But  praise  is  onl}-  the  illuminated  hemisphere 
of  demonstrative  eloquence.  Her  orb  on  die  oth- 
er side  is  darkened  with  invective  and  reproach. 
Solemn  orations  of  invective  ai'C  not  indeed  usual. 
Panegyric  sometimes  ends  in  itself,  and  consti- 
tutes the  only  purpose  of  the  speaker.  It  has  not, 
I  believe,  been  the  custom  of  any  age  or  nation 
thus  to  administer  censure ;    but  in  discourr.es  of 


238  ARGUMENTS   AND  [lECT.  X. 

business,  deliberative  or  judicial,  reprehension  is 
perhaps  of  more  frequent  and  extensive  use, 
than  applause.  It  is  plentifully  scattered  over  all 
the  most  celebrated  orations  both  of  ancient  and 
modern  times.  Familiar  alike  to  Demosthenes 
and  Cicero ;  to  Chatham,  Junius,  and  Burke. 
The  French  orators  indeed  have  been  most  spar- 
ing in  its  use  ;  for  the  sublimest  French  orators 
have  been  ministers  of  religion,  and  have  been 
duly  impressed  with  that  truly  excellent  senti- 
ment of  the  Athenian  priestess,  who  refused  her 
office  to  anathematize  Alcibiades  ;  because  it  was 
her  duty  to  implore  blessings,  and  not  to  pro- 
nounce execrations.  She  was  a  priestess  to  bless, 
and  not  to  curse.  Invective  is  not  one  of  the 
pleasing  functions  of  oratory  ;  nor  is  it  her  amia- 
ble aspect.  But  she  is  charged  with  a  sting,  as 
well  as  ^vith  honey.  Her  terrors  are  as  potent,  as 
her  charms;  as  the  same  omnipotent  hand  is 
manifested  by  the  blasting  volley  of  thunder,  as 
by  the  genial  radiance  of  the  sun. 

The  ultimate  object  then  of  demonstrative 
eloquence  is  show  ;  the  display  of  qualities  good 
or  bad.  Her  special  function  is  to  point  the  fin- 
ger of  admiration  or  of  scorn  ;  to  deal  out  the 
mead  of  honor  and  of  shame.     From  this  funda- 


LECT.X.]     DEMONSTRATIVE  ORATORY.  239 

mental  principle  are  to  be  derived  all  the  precepts 
for  the  composition  of  demonstrative  discourses  ; 
which  I  shall  now  present  to  your  consideration 
in  successive  reference  to  the  subject,  the  grounds, 
and  the  manner.  In  other  words  we  are  to  in- 
quire, what  may  properly  be  praised  or  censured  ; 
next,  for  what,  and  finally  how  such  praise  or  cen- 
sure should  be  dispensed. 

The  subjects  of  panegyric  or  reprobation  may 
be  either  persons  or  things.  In  the  language  of 
Aristotle,  which  has  been  adopted  by  Quinctilian, 
*•  demonstrative  oratory  generally  relates  either 
to  gods  or  men  ;  but  sometimes  to  other  animals, 
and  even  to  things  inanimate."  Surely  one 
would  think  these  divisions  sufficiently  clear  and 
comprehensive  ;  but  this  is  one  of  tlie  parts  of  the 
science,  where  the  rhetoricians  of  the  middle  age, 
from  the  time  of  Quinctilian  down  to  the  begin- 
ning of  the  last  century,  wasted  a  world  of  idle 
ingenuity  upon  petty  distinctions,  and  the  multi- 
plication of  artificial  subdivisions.  Vossius  for 
example  very  gravely  discusses  the  question, 
whether  this  division  of  Aristotle  includes  vege- 
tables ;  because  they  are  neither  gods,  men,  other 
animals,  nor  things  inanimate.  Nay,  after  long 
and  painful  argument,  he  admits,  that  in  the  praise 


240  ARGUMENTS  AND  [lECT.  X* 

or  censure  of  persons,  actions,  and  things,  that  of 
the  brute  creation  cannot  be  comprized ;  and 
therefore,  in  comphance  with  the  scruples  of  the 
formidable  critics,  who  insisted  upon  a  more  per- 
fect enumeration,  he  proposes  a  fourth  subdivis- 
ion of  quasi-j>ersons  ;  so  that  every  bird,  beast, 
fish,  and  creeping  thing,  of  this  terraqueous  globe, 
might  be  regularly  entitled  to  its  just  proportion 
of  panegyric  ;  or  be  punished  with  its  proper 
share  of  reproach.  Unquestionably  all  being 
moral  or  physical,  actual  or  possiWe,  from  the 
Supreme  Creator  to  nothing,  "  night's  elder 
brother,"  may  seriously  or  in  joke  be  made  a 
subject  of  eulogy  or  of  invective.  But,  in  order 
to  establish  this  proposition,  it  cannot  be  necessa- 
ry to  dissect  all  existence  material  and  metaphys- 
ical, and  count  its  every  vein  and  artery,  nerve 
and  sinew,  for  the  purpose  of  converting  into  le- 
gitimate oratory  a  philippic  upon  a  monkey,  or  a 
panegj'ric  upon  a  parrot. 

In  christian  countries  the  great  and  transcend- 
ent object  of  praise,  before  which  all  others  van- 
ish, is  the  Creator  and  Preserver  of  the  universe. 
His  power  and  goodness  are  inexhaustible  themes, 
upon  which  the  duties  of  the  pulpit  orator  partic- 
ularly require  him  to  expatiate  in  all  his  public  per- 


LECT.X.]     DEMONSTRATIVE  ORATORY.  241 

formances.  It  is  a  part  of  the  regular,  stated 
duties  of  public  worship,  and  in  those  churches, 
where  this  portion  of  the  divine  service  has  not 
been  reduced  to  prescribed,  unvarying  forms,  is 
perhaps  the  most  arduous  of  all  the  functions  of 
the  sanctuary.  With  the  pi-aise  of  the  Creator 
is  naturally  associated  that  of  tlie  Saviour  of  the 
world ;  which  will  be  diversified  according  to  the 
different  views,  in  which  that  exalted  character 
is  considered  by  the  different  denominations  of 
christians ;  differences,  which  it  is  not  my  prov- 
ince to  discuss,  and  of  which  mutual  forbear- 
ance and  charity  furnish  the  best,  if  not  the  only 
solution. 

Among  the  ancient  heathens  the  mytholog- 
ical doctrine  and  history  supplied  a  copious  fund 
for  encomiastic  eloquence,  in  their  numberless 
divinities,  demi-gods,  and  heroes.  The  Roman 
catholics,  by  an  easy  substitution,  have  reser\'ed 
to  themselves  the  same  themes  in  their  hierarchy 
of  saints,  angels,  and  archangels  ; 

"  Thrones,  dominations,  princedoms,  virtues,  powers.'* 

But  the  protestant  communities  know  too  little  of 
diose  "  orders  bright,"  those  supernatural  intel- 
ligences,  to  honor  them  with  that  paneg}Tic,  to 


242  ARGUMENTS  AND  [lECT.  X. 

which,  by  their  rank  and  dignity  in  the  scale  of 
being,  diey  may  perhaps  be  entitled ;  but  which 
in  our  ignorance  has  an  unfortunate  tendency 
to  lead  us  from  veneration  to  worship,  from  the 
adoration  of  the  true  God  to  the  idolatry  of  his 
creatures. 

The  persons  however,  who,  in  the  common 
affairs  of  the  world,  most  frequently  call  for  the 
voice  of  panegyric  or  of  censure,  are  men ;  or 
at  least  human  beings.  And  the  qualities,  for 
which  they  may  deserve  the  warmest  praise,  are 
those,  which  contribute  to  social  or  individual 
happiness.  And  here  it  is  proper  to  notice  a 
very  material  distinction,  drawn  by  Socrates,  and 
developed  by  his  disciples,  between  what  they 
call  the  fair,  and  the  good ;  the  KaAov,  mi  uyx^ov. 
By  the  good  they  understood  all  those  blessings, 
the  direct  benefit  of  which  was  confined  to 
their  possessor ;  such  as  health,  strength,  beauty, 
and  the  gifts  of  nature,  which  contribute  to  the 
happiness  of  the  individual.  But  the  fair  was 
the  assemblage  of  those  powers  and  faculties, 
which  are  not  only  desirable  in  themselves,  but  as 
contributing  to  the  happiness  of  others.  Hence 
it  is  that  Aristotle  remarks,  that  the  whole  scope 
of  the  demonstrative  orator  is  the  fair ;    to  xaAov ; 


XECT.  X.]  DEMONSTRATIVE  ORATORY.     243 

the  display  of  the  qualities,  which  administer  to 
the  happiness  of  mankind.  Hence  the  most 
perfect  theme  of  human  panegjTic  is  virtue. 
Virtue  is  the  K«Aov  x'a<  aya.'ho'j ;  both  good  and 
fair ;  at  once  contributing  to  tlie  happiness  of  its 
possessor  and  of  other  men.  Virtue  alone  unites 
the  double  praise  of  enjoyment  and  of  beneficence. 
But,  as  beneficence  is  her  most  essential  charac- 
teristic, it  necessarily  follows,  that  those  of  her 
attributes,  which  are  most  beneficial  to  others, 
are  those,  which  merit  the  highest  panegyric. 
To  do  good  and  to  communicate  is  thus  the  only 
solid  foundation  for  legitimate  praise  ;  and  the 
passage  of  the  holy  scripture,  which  says  of 
the  blessed  Jesus,  that  he  "  went  about  doing 
good,"  embraces  within  itself  the  whole  com- 
pass of  applause,  the  whole  system  of  demon- 
strative eloquence. 

With  this  general  principle  always  in  view, 
and  with  continual  reference  to  it,  a  man  may  be 
panegjTized  for  the  qualities  of  his  mind,  for  bodi- 
ly accomplishments,  or  for  external  circumstances. 
The  highest  praise  must  be  reserved  for  the 
first.  They  are  most  beneficent  in  their  nature, 
and  most  extensive  in  their  effects.  Mere  bodily 
perfections  are  of  small  benefit  to  the  world  in  a 


244  ARGUMENTS   AND  [lECT.  X. 

state  of  civilization,  and  Hercules  himself  could, 
by  the  cleansing  of  a  stable,  or  the  strangling  of 
a  lion,  deserve  but  little  praise  from  mankind, 
once  emancipated  from  the  savage  weakness  of 
the  heroic  age.  External  circumstances,  or 
the  blessings  of  fortune,  can  supply  no  materials 
for  encomium  from  themselves ;  but  they  may 
be  rendered  praiseworthy  by  their  application. 
This  they  can  receive  only  from  the  energy  of 
virtue.  So  that  after  all,  directly  or  indirectly, 
viitue  is  the  only  pure  and  original  fountiiin  of 
praise. 

But  virtue  is  a  term  so  general  and  so  compre- 
hensive, that  the  idea  annexed  to  it  is  seldom  very 
precise.  Aristotle  therefore,  after  marking  its 
universal  characteristic,  beneficence,  the  proper- 
ty of  doing  good,  enters  into  a  minute  enumera- 
tion of  all  its  parts ;  such  as  justice,  fortitude, 
temperance,  magnificence,  magnanimity,  liberal- 
ity, meekness,  prudence,  and  wisdom.  He 
gives  ingenious  and  accurate  definitions  of  all 
these  moral  and  intellectual  qualities ;  but  it  de- 
serves peculiarly  to  be  remarked,  that  among  the 
virtues  he  formally  includes  revenge.  For,  says 
he,  retaliation  is  part  of  justice  ;  and  inflexibility 
part  of  fortitude.     How  striking  an  illustration 


LECT.X.]     DEMONSTRATIVE  ORATORY.  245 

is  this  at  once  of  the  superior  excellence  and  of 
the  truth  of  divine  revelation.  To  mere  naked, 
human  nature,  this  reasoning  of  Aristotle  is  irre- 
sistible. It  is  not  his  wonderful  sagacity,  that 
deserts  him ;  it  is  merely  the  infirmity  of  the  nat- 
ural man,  in  which  he  participates.  On  princi- 
ples of  mere  natural  morality  revenge  is  a  virtue, 
retaliation  is  justice,  and  inflexibility  is  fortitude. 
But  look  for  the  practical  comment  upon  this 
principle  into  the  fictions  of  the  poets ;  see  the 
hero  of  Homer,  the  goddess-born  Achilles,  wreak- 
ing his  fury  upon  the  lifeless  corpse  of  his  valiant 
and  unfortunate  foe.  See  the  hero  of  Virgil,  the 
pious  /Eneas,  steeling  his  bosom  against  mercy, 
and  plunging  his  pitiless  sword  into  the  bosom  of 
a  fallen  and  miploring  enemy,  to  avenge  the 
slaughter  of  his  friend.  Look  for  it  in  real  histo- 
ry; consult  Thucydides ;  consult  the  annals  of  the 
French  revolution,  from  the  instant,  when  that  pe- 
culiar doctrine  of  Christianity,  the  forgiveness 
of  injuries,  was  cast  off,  as  a  relic  of  monkish 
superstition;  and  you  will  trace  this  virtue  of 
revenge  through  rivers  and  oceans  of  blood,  shed 
in  cold  and  deliberate  butchery.  But  this  sub- 
ject  is  too  fruitful  and  too  important  for  discussion 
here.      It  is  a  theme  for  more  sacred  occasions, 


246  ARGUMENTS  AND  [lECT.  X. 

and  more  hallowed  lips.  Returning  to  our  proj^er 
sphere,  it  now  remains  to  inquire  how  praise  or 
censure  best  may  be  dispensed. 

In  formal  panegyric  there  are  two  modes  of 
proceeding,  either  of  which  may  be  adopted, 
as  the  circumstances  of  the  case  may  render 
expedient.  The  one  may  be  called  biograph- 
ical, the  other  ethical  panegyric.  One  proceeds 
from  the  object,  and  the  other  from  the  quali- 
ties. One  takes  its  departure  from  the  person, 
and  the  other  from  the  virtue  celebrated. 

The  biographical  panegyric  is  the  easiest. 
Its  divisions  are  uniform,  and  are  precisely  the 
same  in  every  subject,  to  which  they  are  appli- 
ed. It  traces  the  hero  of'  the  story  through  his 
genealogy  to  the  moment  of  his  birth  ;  accompa- 
nies him  through  life  ;  follows  him  to  the  grave, 
and  gathers  all  the  flowers  ever  scattered  on  his 
tomb.  The  moral  panegyric  is  of  more  difficult 
composition.  It  takes  the  prominent  qualities  of 
the  person  celebrated  for  the  principal  divisions 
of  discourse,  and  treats  them  in  succession  "with- 
out regard  to  chronological  order.  Of  these  two 
methods  the  first  has  been  pursued  by  Isocrates 
and  Pliny;  the  last  by  Cicero.  The  French  fune- 
ral eulogists  endeavour  to  combine  the  advantages 


LECT.X.]     DEMONSTRATIVE  ORATORY.  247 

of  both,  and  exhibit  a  developement  of  virtues  in 
succession,  corresponding  with  the  order  of  a  bi- 
ographical narrative.  One  of  the  most  beautiful 
examples  of  panegyric,  thus  treated,  is  the  fune- 
ral oration  of  the  duchess  of  Montausier  by  Fle- 
chier. 

The  rules  for  tlie  composition  of  panegyric 
are  neither  numerous  nor  complicated.  The  first 
is  a  sacred  and  undeviating  regard  for  truth. 
But  the  duties,  which  truth  prescribes,  are  vari- 
ously modified  under  various  relations.  A  mere 
biographer  is  bound  to  divest  himself  of  all  par- 
tiiilities ;  to  notice  the  errors  and  failings,  as  well 
as  the  virtues  and  achievements  of  his  hero.  The 
obligation  of  the  panegyrist  is  less  rigorous.  His 
purpose  is  not  history  but  encomium.  He  is 
bound  to  tell  the  truth.  Errors,  vices,  follies, 
must  not  be  disguised,  nor  justified ;  but  they 
may  be  covered  with  the  veil  of  silence  ;  and  if 
more  than  counterbalanced  by  transcendent  mer- 
its, they  may  even  be  extenuated  ;  a  proceeding 
perfectly  consistent  with  the  pure  morality  of  that 
religion,  which  teaches,  that  "  charity  covereth  a 
multitude  of  sins." 

Tlie  ancient  rhetoricians  even  allowed  pane- 
gyrical orators  the  very  dangerous  indulgence  of 


248  ARGUMENTS  AND  [lECT.  X« 

using  what  they  call  moral  approximation  ;  and,  as 
all  the  virtues  border  ver)^  closely  upon  corres- 
ponding vices,  diey  authorize  the  speaker  of 
pi-aise  or  invective  to  transpose  them,  or  mingle 
up  their  colors  with  the  view  to  cause  the  one  to 
be  mistaken  for  the  other.  Aristode  formally  re- 
commends the  occasional  substitution  of  prudence 
for  timidity  ;  of  sagacity  for  cunning ;  of  sim- 
plicity for  duhiess  ;  of  gentleness  for  indolence  ; 
and  he  ingeniously  reminds  his  reader,  that  this 
transposition  will  be  most  advisable,  when  the 
vice  is  only  the  excess  of  its  correlative  virtue. 
And  thus  rashness  may  easily  be  pruned  into 
valor,  and  extravagance  whitened  into  generosi- 
ty. The  aspect,  in  which  moral  qualities  may  be 
considered,  is  undoubtedly  susceptible  of  great 
variety  ;  and  nothing  falls  more  frequent^y  under 
our  observation  in  the  common  occurrences  of 
life,  than  the  different  lights,  in  which  the  same 
act  is  viewed  by  different  eyes.  To  deny  the 
speaker  of  panegyric  or  invective  the  use  of  the 
faculty,  which  darkens  or  illumines  the  canvass  of 
his  portraits,  would  be  restriction  too  severe.  He 
may  present  the  object  in  the  aspect  best  suited 
to  his  purpose,  without  deviating  from  the  truth. 
The  use  of  approximation  is  more  questionable. 


LECT.  X.]  DEMONSTRATIVE  ORATORY.     249 

when  employed  for  censure,  than  for  commen- 
dation ;  unmerited  reproach  being  more  per- 
nicious and  more  odious,  than  undeserved  praise. 
An  example  of  oratorical  approximation  in  the 
correspondence  between  Junius  and  Sir  William 
Draper  is  introduced  on  both  sides  of  the  con- 
troversy ;  and  refers  to  a  feature  in  the  character 
of  the  Marquis  of  Granby,  which  one  of  the  writ- 
ers endeavours  to  exalt,  and  the  other  struggles 
to  degrade.*  An  impartial  observer  will  per- 
ceive, that  plain  fact  lay  between  the  two  repre- 
sentations. As  efforts  of  skill,  the  execution  of 
Junius  is  far  superior  to  that  of  his  adversary.  But 
it  is  tinctured  with  bitter  and  corrosive  passions. 
Sir  William  Draper  is  less  pleasing  and  more  amia- 
ble. Junius  is  the  ablest  champion ;  Sir  William 
has  the  fairest  cause..  If  ever  engaged  in  conti'o- 
versy,  remember  that  approximation  requires  at 
once  firmness  and  pliancy,  steady  principle  and 
accommodating  address.  It  obtains  more  indul- 
gence, used  defensively,  than  offensively ;  more 
excuse,  urged  by  way  of  attenuation,  than  of  re- 
proof; more  encouragement  in  amplifying  virtues, 
than  in  aggravating  faults. 

*  Heron's  Junius  i.  p.  57,  51,  59. 

S2 


250  ARGUMENTS  AND  [lECT,  Xk 

The  next  rule  for  the  distribution  of  praise 
or  censure  is  that  it  be  specific.  General  enco- 
mium is  the  praise  of  fools.  The  quality,  which 
a  man  has  in  common  with  many  others,  is  no 
theme  for  panegyric  or  invective.  Dwell  on  all 
important  incidents,  exclusively  or  at  least  pecu- 
liarly applicable  to  the  person,  of  wiiom  you  speak* 
Strive  rather  to  excite,  than  to  express  admiration ; 
to  exhibit,  rather  than  to  proclaim  the  excellence 
of  your  hero,  if  your  theme  be  praise.  If  invec- 
tive, pursue  the  same  process,  though  with  in- 
verted step.  General  abuse  may  discover  anger, 
but  not  eloquence.  The  alphabet  of  demonstra- 
tive oratory  is  the  same,  spelt  forward  or  back- 
ward. But  in  descending  to  specialties,  be  cau- 
tious in  the  selection  of  circumstances,  which  ad- 
mit of  paneg}Tic  and  embellishment.  Assume 
nothing  trivial ;  applaud  nothing  really  censura- 
ble; blame  nothing  really  praise- worthy.  The 
value  of  praise  depends  much  on  the  character  of 
the  panegyrist,  and  the  selection  of  incidents  for 
remark  is  the  truest  test  of  both  the  orator  and  the 
oration. 

Amplification  is  the  favorite  figure  of  demon- 
strative eloquence.  The  speaker  then  should  pro- 
ceed from  the  less  to  the  greater,  and  make  his 


LECT.X.]     DEMONSTRATIVE   ORATORY.  251 

discourse  a  continual  climax.  The  ears  of  men 
are  fastidious  to  praise.  When  listening  to  it,  the}' 
■are  ever  prone  to  slide  into  the  more  pleasant  sen- 
sation of  ridicule.  The  orator  must  suit  his  dis- 
course to  the  disposition  of  the  audience.  Praise 
or  dispraise  is  relative.  To  conciliate  the  favor 
of  his  auditory  is  the  first  task  of  the  orator  in  ev- 
ery form  of  public  speaking.  To  the  demonstra- 
tive orator  it  is  the  alpha  and  omega,  the  first  and 
the  last. 

The  last,  though  not  the  least  important  pre- 
cept for  the  composition  of  these  discourses  is  to 
moralize  the  subject ;  an  art,  which  requires  the 
most  consummate  skill.  The  amusement  of  the 
audience,  and  the  celebration  of  some  favorite  oc- 
casion or  character,  ai^e  the  immediate  purposes  of 
the  oration ;  but  tlie  speaker  should  propose  to 
himself  the  further  and  nobler  end  of  urging  them 
to  virtuous  sentiment  and  beneficent  action.  Not 
by  assuming  the  tone  of  a  teacher  ;  not  by  deal- 
ing out  driblets  of  morality  from  the  whole  duty 
of  man ;  not  by  pillaging  the  primer,  or  laying  the 
spelling-book  under  contribution.  Your  moral 
sentiment  must  be  pure,  to  be  useful ;  it  must 
bear  some  mark  of  novelty  in  the  expression  or  in 
the  modification,  to  be  received  ^vithout  disgust,  and 


252  ARGUMENTS    &.C.  [lECT.  X. 

to  leave  a  deep  impression.  Hence  you  will  per- 
ceive, that  a  profound  knowledge  of  human  na- 
ture, an  accurate  observation  of  mankind,  and  a 
tliorough  knowledge  of  ethics,  or  the  science  of 
moral  distinctions,  are  among  the  essential  qualifi- 
cations of  the  demonstrative  orator.  In  this  art  of 
mingling  moral  sentiment  with  oratorical  splendor, 
modern  eloquence  has  perhaps  equalled  that  of  the 
ancients  ;  and  the  French  orators  have  excelled 
all  other  modems.  Bossuet  and  Flechier,  in  their 
funeral  orations  and  panegyrics,  combine  admir- 
al^le  sentiments  with  ardent  panegyric,  and  irradiate 
every  gem  of  their  eloquence  with  a  lucid  beam 
of  instruction. 

Thus  much  for  the  arguments,  suited  peculiar- 
ly to  demonstrative  oratory.  My  next  object  will 
be  to  give  you  a  view  of  those,  most  adapted  to 
the  eloquence  of  deliberation. 


LECTURE  XL 


DELIBERATIVE      ORATORY. 


TO  ascertain  the  arguments  peculiarly  suita- 
ble to  each  of  the  three  kinds  of  public  speaking, 
where  eloquence  may  be  displayed,  we  must  re- 
sort to  that  special  principle,  which  constitutes  the 
distinctive  character  of  the  kind.  Thus  we  have 
seen,  that,  as  show  is  the  essential  property  of  de- 
monstrative orations,  the  arguments,  best  adapted 
to  discourses  of  that  class,  arc  such  as  display  senti- 
ment or  character.  Proceeding  in  the  same  track 
to  discover  the  arguments,  which  fall  within  the 
province  of  deliberative  orator}'^,  we  are  to  recol- 
lect, that  the  characteristic  common  measure  of 
this  class  is  utility.  Deliberation  presupposes  a 
freedom  of  election  in  the  deliberating  body.      It 


254  DELIBERATIVE   ORATORV.     [lECT.  XI. 

presupposes  alternatives,  which  may  be  adopted 
or  rejected.  The  issue  of  deUberation  is  action, 
and  the  final  determination,  what  that  action  shall 
be,  results  from  a  sense  of  utility  or  expediency, 
entertained  by  the  speiiker's  audience.  The  object 
of  the  orator  then  is  to  persuade  his  hearers,  and  to 
influence  their  conduct  in  relation  to  a  future 
measure.  His  task  is  to  inspire  them  with  the 
belief,  that  the  adoption  of  that,  which  he  recom- 
mends, or  the  rejection  of  that,  which  he  dis- 
suades, would  be  useful  either  to  tiie  hearers 
themselves,  or  to  their  constituents,  whom  they 
represent. 

It  is  in  deliberative  oratory,  and  in  that  alone, 
that  eloquence  and  the  art  of  persuasion  maybe 
considered,  as  terms  perfectly  synonymous.  De- 
monstrative orations  terminate  in  themselves. 
They  lead  to  no  vote  ;  they  verge  to  no  verdict. 
The  drift  of  the  discourse  is  to  display  the  merits 
of  the  subject,  and  the  talents  of  the  speaker.  He 
may  indeed  exercise  powers  of  persuasion,  but 
they  are  not  essential  to  his  task.  He  has  no 
call  to  act  upon  the  will  of  his  hearers.  Persuasion 
is  not  necessarily  his  aim. 

Judicial  discourses  terminate  in  action  ;  and  in 
that  respect  resemble  deliberative  speeches.     But 


LECT.  XI.]      DELIBERATIVE   ORATORY.  255 

the  drift  of  the  argument  is  to  justice  ;  not  to  util- 
ity. The  aim  of  the  speaker  must  be  to  produce 
conviction,  rather  than  persuasion  ;  to  operate  by 
proof,  rather  than  by  influence.  The  judge  or 
jury,  to  whom  the  discourse  is  addressed,  has  no 
choice  of  alternatives,  no  freedom  of  option,  like 
the  deliberative  body.  That  which  is  just,  that 
which  is  prescribed  by  law,  once  discovered  and 
made  manifest,  he  is  bound  to  folloAv.  Persuasion 
therefore  does  not  properly  belong  to  that  class  of 
oratory.  The  judge  is  to  act  not  under  the  im- 
pulse of  his  will,  but  of  the  law.  He  is  the  mere 
minister  of  justice.  He  must  take  the  facts 
according  to  the  proof.  He  is  to  presume 
nothing ;  to  suppose  nothing  ;  to  imagine  noth- 
ing. The  orator  ought  not  to  address  him- 
self to  the  inclinations  of  his  auditor,  because 
the  auditor  has  no  right  to  consult  tliem  him- 
self. This  distinction  is  much  stronger  in  mod- 
ern times  and  in  our  country,  than  among  the 
ancients;  because  our  judicial  courts  are  more 
closely  bound  to  the  letter  of  the  law.  So  then  in 
demonstrative  orations  the  application  of  the  ora- 
tor's eloquence  is  only  to  the  opinions  of  his  audi- 
ence ;    in  judicial  arguments  to  their  judgment : 


256  DELIBERATIVE  ORATORY.      [lECT.  XI. 

but  in    deliberative   discourses   directiy  to  their 
will. 

From  these  observations  you  will  perceive  the 
solid  grounds,  upon  which  these  divisions  were 
originally  made.  So  different  is  the  nature  of 
public  speaking,  on  these  different  occasions,  that 
the  talents,  required  to  shine  in  each  of  them,  are 
different  from  those,  which  give  excellence  in  the 
others.  In  our  own  experience  we  may  observe, 
that  the  eloquence  of  the  bar,  of  the  legislature, 
and  of  public  solemnities,  are  seldom  or  ever  found 
united  to  high  perfection  in  the  same  person.  An 
admirable  lawyer  is  not  always  a  popular  speaker 
in  deliberative  assemblies  ;  and  a  speaker  of  brill- 
iant orations  often  sinks  into  silence  at  tlie  bar. 
In  the  relative  estimate  of  the  difficulties  and 
importance  of  the  several  kinds  of  public  oratory, 
Cicero  has  assigned  to  judicial  eloquence  the  place 
of  the  highest  difficulty,  and  to  the  eloquence  of 
deliberation  that  of  the  highest  importance.  This 
arrangement  is  suited  to  all  republican  govern- 
ments, and  indeed  to  all  governments,  where  the 
powers  of  legislation  are  exercised  by  a  delibera- 
tive assembly.  From  the  preponderancy  of  de- 
mocracy in  the  political  constitutions  of  our  coun- 
try, deliberative  assemblies  are  more  numerous,  and 


LECT.  Xl.]      DELIBERATIVE   ORATORY.  257 

the  objects  of  their  consideration  are  more  diver- 
sified, than  they  ever  have  been  in  any  other  age 
or  nation,  froni  the  formation  of  a  national  con« 
stitution  to  the  management  of  a  turnpike,  every 
object  of  concern  to  more  than  one  individual  is 
transacted  bv  deliberati^'e  bodies.  National  and 
state  conventions  for  the  purpose  of  forming  con- 
stitutions, tne  congress  of  the  United  States,  the 
legislatures  of  the  several  states,  are  all  delibera- 
tive assemblies.  Besides  which,  in  our  part  of  the 
country,  every  town,  every  parish  or  religious  so- 
ciety, every  association  of  individuals,  incorporat- 
ed for  purposes  of  interest,  of  education,  of  chari- 
ty, or  of  science,  forms  a  deliberative  assembly, 
and  presents  opportunities  for  the  exhibition  of  de- 
liberative eloquence.  These  are  scenes,  in  which 
your  duties,  as  men  or  as  citizens,  will  frequently 
call  upon  you  all  to  engage.  There  is  only  a  cer- 
tain proportion  among  }ou,  who  \vill  ever  have 
occasion  to  speak  in  the  courts  of  justice,  or  in  the 
sacred  desk.  Still  fewer  will  ever  have  the  call,  or 
feel  the  inclination  to  deliver  the  formal  oration  of  a 
public  solemnity.  But  you  are  all  citizens  of  a 
free  republic  ;  you  are  all  favored  with  the  most  lib- 
eral and  scientific  education,  which  your  country 

can  artbrd.     That  countrv,  in  her  turn,  will  have  a 
33 


258  DELIBERATIVE   ORATORY.      [lECT.  XI, 

peculiar  claim  upon  you  for  the  benefit  of  your 
counsels  ;  and  either  in  die  selected  bodies  of  her 
legislatures,  or  in  the  general  assemblies  of  the 
people,  will  give  you  opportunities  to  employ,  for 
her  advantage  and  your  o\\'n  reputation,  every  fac- 
ulty of  speech,  which  you  have  received,  or  which 
you  can  acquire. 

The  principles  of  deliberative  oratory  are  im- 
portant also  in  another  point  of  view  ;  inasmuch 
as  they  are  applicable  to  the  ordinary  concerns  of 
life.  Whoever  in  the  course  of  human  affairs  is 
called  to  give  advice,  or  to  ask  a  favor  of  another, 
must  apply  to  the  same  principles  of  action, 
as  those,  which  the  deliberative  orator  must  ad- 
dress. The  arguments,  which  persuade  an  as- 
sembly, are  the  same,  which  are  calculated  to  per- 
suade an  individual ;  and  in  speaking  to  a  delib- 
erative body  the  orator  can  often  employ  no  high- 
er artifice,  than  to  consider  himself  as  discoursing 
to  a  single  man. 

The  objects  of  deliberative  eloquence  then  are 
almost  co-extensive  with  human  affairs.  They 
embrace  ever}'^  thing,  which  can  be  a  subject  of 
advice,  of  exhortation,  of  consolation,  or  of  peti- 
tion. The  most  important  scenes  of  deliberative 
oratory  however  in  these  states  are  the  congress 


LECT.  XI.]      DELIBERATIVE   ORATORY.  259 

of  the  union,  and  the  state  legislature.  The  ob- 
jects of  their  deliberation  affect  the  interests  of 
individuals  and  of  the  nation,  in  the  highest  de- 
gree. In  seeking  the  sources  of  deliberative  ar- 
gument I  shall  therefore  so  modify  the  rules,  gen- 
erally to  be  observed,  as  to  bear  constant  reference 
to  them.  They  include  all  the  subjects  of  legis- 
lation, of  taxation,  of  public  debt,  public  credit, 
and  public  revenue  ;  of  the  management  of  pub- 
lic property  ;  of  commerce;  treaties  and  alUances; 
peace  and  war. 

Suppose  yourself  then,  as  a  member  of  a  delib- 
erative assembly,  deliberating  upon  some  question, 
involving  these  great  and  important  concerns ;  de- 
sirous of  communicating  your  own  sentiments, 
and  of  influencing  the  decision  of  the  body  you 
are  to  address.  Your  means  of  persuasion  are  to 
be  derived  from  three  distinct  general  sources  ; 
having  reference  respectively,  first  to  the  subject 
of  deliberation ;  secondly  to  the  body  deliberating ; 
and  thirdly  to  yourself,  the  speaker. 

1.  In  considering  the  subject  of  deliberation, 
your  arguments  may  result  from  the  circumstanc- 
es of  legality,  of  possibility,  of  probability,  of  fa- 
cility,  of  necessit}',  or  of  contingency. 


260  DELIBERATIVE  ORATORY.      [lECT.XI. 

The  argument  of  legality  must  always  be 
modified  by  the  extent  of  authority,  with  which 
the  deliberating  body  is  invested.  In  its  nature  it 
is  an  argument  only  applicable  to  the  negative 
side  of  the  question.  It  is  an  objection,  raised 
against  the  measure  under  consideration,  as  being 
contrary  to  la^v.  It  can  therefore  have  no  weight 
in  cases,  where  the  deliberating  body  itself  has 
the  power  of  changing  the  law.  Thus  in  a  town 
meeting  it  would  be  a  decisive  objection  against 
any  measure  proposed,  that  it  would  infringe  a  law 
of  the  state.  But  in  the  legislature  of  the  com- 
monwealth this  would  be  no  argument,  because 
that  body  is  empowered  to  change  the  law.  Again, 
in  the  state  legislature  a  measure  may  be  assailed, 
as  contrary  to  a  law  of  the  Union  ;  and  the  objec- 
tion, if  well  founded,  must  be  fatal  to  the  measure 
proposed  ;  though  it  could  have  no  influence  upon 
a  debate  in  congress.  There  however  the  same 
argument  may  be  adduced  in  a  different  form,  if 
the  proposition  discussed  interferes  with  any  stipu- 
lation by  treaty,  or  with  the  constitution  ot  the 
United  States.  The  argument  of  illegality  there- 
fore is  equivalent  to  denial  of  the  powers  of  the  de- 
liberating body.  It  is  of  great  and  frequent  use 
in  all  deliberative  discussions ;    but  it  is  not  al- 


LECT.  XI.]     DELIBERATIVE  ORATORY.  261 

ways  that,  which  is  most  readily  Hstened  to  by 
the  audience.  Men  are  seldom  inclined  to 
abridge  their  own  authority  ;  and  the  orator,  who 
questions  the  competency  of  his  hearers  to  act 
upon  the  subject  in  discussion,  must  be  support- 
ed by  proof  strong  enough  to  control  their  in- 
clinations, as  well  as  to  convince  their  reason. 

The  arguments  of  possibility  and  of  necessity 
are  those,  which  first  command  the  consideration  of 
the  speaker,  whose  object  is  persuasion.  Since,  if 
impossiljility  on  the  one  hand,  or  necessit}'  on  the 
other,  be  once  ascertained,  there  is  no  room  left 
for  further  deliberation.  But,  although  nothing 
more  can  be  required  for  dissuasion,  than  to  shovv'^ 
that  the  intended  purpose  is  impracticable,  barely 
to  show  its  possibility  can  have  very  little  influence 
in  a  debate  ;  and  it  becomes  the  province  of  the 
speaker  to  consider  its  probability  and  facility ; 
insisting  upon  every  circumstance,  which  contrib- 
utes to  strengthen  tliese. 

It  is  to  be  remarked,  that  the  task  of  dissuasion 
or  opposition  is  much  easier  to  the  orator,  than 
that  of  persuasion  ;  because  for  the  rejection  of  a 
measure  it  is  sufficient  to  shoM',  either  that  it  is 
impracticable,  or  inexpedient.  But  for  its  adop- 
tion, both  its  possibility  and  its  expediency  must 


262  DELIBERATIVE  ORATORY.     [lECT.XI. 

be  made  to  appear.  The  proposer  of  the  meas- 
ure must  support  both  the  alternatives ;  the  op- 
ponent needs  only  to  substantiate  one  of  them. 

In  discussing  the  probabilities  and  facilities  erf 
a  measure,  the  speaker  often  indulges  himself  in 
tlie  use  of  amplification,  which  here  consists  in  the 
art  of  multiplying  the  incidents,  favorable  to  his 
purpose,  and  presenting  them  in  such  aspects,  as 
to  gi^x  each  other  mutual  aid  and  relief.  As  in 
the  arguments  of  impossibility  and  necessity,  he 
borrows  from  demonstrative  oratory  the  art  of  ap- 
proximation, and  represents  as  impossible  that, 
which  is  only  very  difficult,  or  as  absolutely  neces- 
sary that,  which  is  of  extreme  importance. 

The  argument  of  contingency,  or,  as  it  is  styl- 
ed by  the  ancient  rhetoricians,  the  argument  from 
the  event,  derives  a  recommendation  of  the  meas- 
ure in  debate  from  cither  alternative  of  a  suc- 
cessful issue  or  of  failure.  An  admirable  instance 
of  this  kind  of  argument  is  contained  in  that  ad- 
vice of  Cai'dinal  Wolsey  to  Cromwell. 

"  Still  in  thy  right  hand  carry  gentle  peace, 

To  silence  envious  tongues.     Be  just  and  fear  not  ; 

Let  all  the  ends,  thou  aim'st  at,  be  thy  country's, 

Thy  God's,  and  truth's  ;  then  if  thou  fall'st,  O  Cromwell, 

Thou  fall'st  a  blessed  martyr." 


LECT.  XI.j      DELIBERATIVE   ORATORY.  26S 

2*  With  regard  to  the  dehberating  body,  tliere 
are  two  views,  in  which  they  must  be  presented  to 
the  speaker's  reflections,  as  accessible  to  persua- 
sion ;  the  motives,  by  which  tliey  are  to  be  stimu- 
lated, and  their  own  manners  and  character.  As 
motives  of  persuasion,  an  orator  may  address  him- 
self to  the  sense  of  duty,  of  honor,  of  interest,  or 
of  passion ;  motives,  which  I  have  here  arranged 
according  to  the  comparative  weight,  which  they 
ought  respectively  to  carr}-,  but  which  in  the  in- 
fluence, which  they  really  possess  over  most  delib- 
erative assemblies,  should  be  ranked  in  precisely  aii 
inverted  order. 

Of  the  sense  of  duty  may  be  observed,  wliat 
I  have  already  said  of  arguments,  pointed  against 
the  power  of  the  audience.  They  are  indeed  only 
dift'erent  modifications  of  the  same  thing.  To 
call  upon  the  auditory  to  perform  a  duty  is  to  speak 
the  language  of  command  ;  it  virtually  denies  the 
power  of  deliberation ;  and,  although  the  force  and 
eflicacy  of  the  appeal  may  be  admitted,  it  is  sel- 
dom listened  to  with  pleasure,  and  always  rather 
controls,  than  persuades  the  will. 

The  most  proper  and  the  most  powerful  argu- 
ments, which  are  usually  employed  for  the  purpos- 
es of  persuasion,  are  those,  addressed  to  the  sense 


264  DELIBERATIVE  ORATORY.     [lECT.  XI, 

of  honor  and  of  interest.  But  in  the  choice  and 
•management  of  these  you  iu*e  to  consult  in  a  spe- 
cial manner  the  character  of  your  audience ;  for 
one  class  of  men  \vill  be  most  powerfully  swayed 
by  motives  of  honor,  while  another  will  most  read- 
ily yield  to  the  impulse  of  interest.  "  The  dis- 
course must  be  accommodated,"  lam  now  speak- 
ing the  words  of  Cicero,  "  not  only  to  the  truth, 
but  to  the  taste  of  the  hearers.  Observe  then  first 
of  all,  that  there  are  two  different  descriptions  of 
men ;  the  one  rude  and  ignorant,  who  ah\  ays  set 
profit  before  honor ;  the  other  polished  and  civil- 
ized, who  prefer  honor  to  every  thing.  Urge 
then  to  the  latter  of  these  classes  considerations  of 
praise,  of  honor,  of  glory,  of  fidelity,  of  justice  ; 
in  short  of  every  virtue.  To  the  former  present 
images  of  gain,  of  emolument  of  thrift;  nay,  in 
addressing  this  kind  of  men,  you  must  even  allure 
them  with  the  bait  of  pleasure.  Pleasure,  always 
hostile  to  virtue,  always  corrupting  by  fraudulent 
imitation  the  very  nature  of  goodness  herself,  is 
yet  most  eagerly  pursued  by  the  worst  of  men  ; 
imd  by  them  often  preferred  not  only  to  every  in- 
stigation of  honor,  but  even  to  the  dictates  of  ne- 
cessity. Remember  too,  that  mankind  are  more 
anxious  to  escape  evil,  than  to  obtain  good ;    less 


LECT.  XI.]      DELIBERATIVE    ORATORY.  265 

eager  to  acquire  honor,  than  to  avoid  shame. 
Who  ever  sought  honor,  gloiy,  praise,  or  flime  of 
any  kind,  with  the  same  ardor,  that  we  fly  from 
those  most  cruel  of  afflictions,  ignominy,  contume- 
ly, and  scorn  ?  Again,  there  is  a  class  of  men, 
naturally  inclined  to  honorable  sentiments,  but 
corrupted  by  evil  education  and  vitiated  opinions. 
Is  it  your  purpose  then  to  exhort  or  persuade, 
remember  that  the  task  before  you  is  that  of  teach- 
ing how  to  obtain  good,  and  eschew  evil.  Are 
you  speaking  to  men  of  liberal  education,  enlarge 
upon  topics  of  praise  and  honor ;  insist  with  the 
keenest  earnestness  upon  those  virtues,  which  con- 
tribute to  the  common  safety  and  advantage  of 
mankind.  But  if  }'ou  are  discoursing  to  gross, 
ignorant,  untutored  minds,  to  tliem  hold  up  profit, 
Uicre,  money-making,  pleasure,  and  escape  from 
pain.  Deter  them  also  by  the  prospect  of  shame 
and  ignominy  ;  for  no  man,  however  insensible  to 
positive  glory,  is  made  of  such  impenetrable  stuff, 
as  not  to  be  vehemently  moved  by  the  dread  of  in- 
famy and  disgrace."  This  passage  of  Cicero, 
extracted  from  the  dialogue  between  himself  and 
his  son,  I  recommend  to  your  meditations,  as  the 
truly  paternal  advice  of  a  father  to  his  child.     You 

will  find  it  not  only   a  most  useful  guide  in  the 
34 


266  DELIBERATIVE    ORATORY.     [lECT.   XI. 

practice  of  deliberative  oratory  ;  but,  if  properly- 
applied,  it  will  furnish  you  a  measure  for  many. an 
audience,  and  many  a  speaker.  It  is  however 
proper  to  remind  you,  that  arguments  of  interest 
are  in  some  degree  purified  of  their  dross  by  the 
constitution  of  our  principal  deliberative  assem- 
blies. They  are  representative  bodies.  Their 
measures  operate  upon  their  constituents,  more 
tiian  upon  themselves.  The  interests,  to  wliich 
you  appeal  in  arguing  to  them,  are  not  their  indi- 
vidual interests,  but  those  of  the  nation.  They 
are  therefore  often  identified  with  the  more  elevat- 
ed topics  of  honor  ;  since  to  promote  the  interest 
of  the  people  is  the  highest  honor  of  the  legislator. 
This  however  is  sufficiently  understood  by  most 
of  our  deliberative  orators.  As  for  you,  my 
young  friends,  whenever  you  may  be  called  to  de- 
liberate upon  the  concerns  of  your  country,  I  trust 
you  will  feel,  that  the  honor,  as  well  as  the  interest 
of  the  public,  is  the  object  of  your  pursuit ;  and 
without  ever  forgetting  the  sacred  regard  to  the 
general  interest,  which  becomes  a  virtuous  citizen, 
you  will  still  perceive  the  immeasurable  distance 
between  those  regions  of  the  soul,  which  are  open 
only  to  the  voice  of  honor,  and  those,  which  are 
trodden  bv  the  foot  of  avarice. 


LECT.  XI.]       DELIBERATIVE  ORATORY.  267 

In  all  numerous  assemblies  the  chaiacters, 
opinions,  and  prejudices  of  die  auditors  will  be  va- 
rious ;  a  certain  proportion  of  them  will  belong  to 
each  of  the  classes,  enumerated  by  Cicero.  In 
such  cases  the  deliberative  orator  will  find  it  ad- 
viseable  to  introduce  a  variety  of  arguments ; 
some  addressed  to  the  generous,  and  some  to  the 
selfish  feelings ;  some  to  the  coarsest,  and  some  to 
the  most  refined  principles  of  action.  But  I  can- 
not with  Quinctili:ui  discuss  the  question,  how  fai' 
an  orator  may  exert  his  talents  of  persuasion  for 
base  and  dishonorable  purposes ;  or  urge  his  hear- 
ers to  actions,  which  he  himself  would  detest  or 
despise.  In  judicial  controversies,  where  the  dis- 
cussion relates  to  time  and  actions  irretrievably 
past,  it  may  often  be  the  fortune  of  the  orator  to  de- 
fend what  he  cannot  justify;  and  in  the  most  rig- 
orous court  of  justice  or  of  honor,  he  may  say, 
like  Shakspeare's  Isabella, 

"  I  something  do  excuse  the  thing  I  hate, 
For  his  advantage,  whom  I  dearly  love." 

But  of  deliberative  eloquence  the  first  principle  is 
sincerity.  No  honest  man  would  advise  what  he 
cannot  approve ;  and  a  counsellor  should  disdain 
to  recommend  that,  which  he  would  not  join  in 


268  DELIBERATIVE  ORATORY.      [lECT.   XI. 

executing  himself.  And  this  leads  me  to  the 
third  general  head,  from  which  the  means  of  per- 
suasion are  to  be  drawn  in  deliberative  oratory, 
the  speaker  himself. 

3.  The  eloquence  of  deliberation  will  necessa- 
rily take  much  of  its  color  from  the  orator  himself. 
He  must  be  careful  to  suit  his  discourse  to  his 
own  character  and  situation.  In  early  life  he  may 
endeavour  to  make  strong  impression  by  the  airy 
splendor  of  his  style,  contrasted  with  the  unaffect- 
ed modesty  of  his  address.  If  advanced  in  years, 
and  elevated  in  reputation  and  dignity,  the  gravity 
of  his  manner  and  the  weight  of  sentiment  should 
justly  correspond  with  the  reverence,  due  to  his 
station.  It  is  in  deliberative  assemblies,  more 
than  upon  any  other  stage  of  public  speaking,  that 
the  good  opinion  of  his  auditoiy  is  important  to 
the  speaker.  The  demonstrative  orator,  the  law- 
yer at  the  bar,  derive  great  advantage  from  a  fair 
reputation  and  the  good  will  of  their  hearers ;  but 
the  peculiar  province  of  the  deliberative  speaker  is 
to  advise ;  and  what  possible  effect  can  be  ex- 
pected from  advice,  where  there  is  no  confidence 
in  the  adviser.  This  subject  however  is  so  im- 
portant and  so  copious,  that  I  shall  reserve  it  for  a 
separate  lecture,  in  which  I  propose  to  consider 


LECT.  XI.]     DELIBERATIVE    ORATORY.  269 

those  qualities  of  the  heart  and  of  the  mind,  which 
are  or  ought  to  he  best  adapted  to  acquire  that  be- 
nevolence of  the  auditor}^,  which  is  so  i)ovvfc-rful  an 
auxiliary  to  the  power  of  speech.  4t 

In  treating  this  part  of  the  subject,  Aristotle, 
according  to  his  usual  custom,  has  pursued  his 
train  of  analysis  to  its  deepest  root,  and  lo  its  mi- 
nutest ramification.     Assuming,  as  a  fundamental 
position,  that  utility,  that  is  the  attainment  of  good 
or  avoidance  of  evil,  is  the  ultimate  object  of  all 
deliberation,  he  proceeds  to  enumerate  a  catalogue 
of  every  thing,  considered  as  a  blessing  by  human 
beings.       These   blessings  he    divides  into  two 
classes ;  first  of  those,  universally  recognized,  and 
positive ;   and  second  of  those,  which  are  only  rel- 
ative, and  subject  to  controversy.      Among  the 
former  he  includes  virtue,  health,  beauty,  riches, 
eloquence,  arts,  and  sciences.      Among  the  latter 
are  the  least  of  two  evils ;    die  contrary  to  what 
your  enemy  desires  ;    the  esteem    of  the    wise ; 
what  multitudes  desire ;    and  specific  objects  to 
individual  men.      The  forms  of  government  also 
modify  the  prevailing  estimate  of  good  and  evil. 
The  end  of  civil  go\^ernment,  under  a  democracy, 
is  liberty  ;    under  an  oligarchy,  property  ;  under 
an  aristocracy,  law ;  and  under  a  monarchy,  sccu- 


270  DELIBERATIVE  ORATORY.       [lECT.  XI. 

rity.  These  are  all  positive  blessings  for  all 
mankind.  But  their  relative  importance  is  greatly 
enhanced,  where  they  constitute  tlie  basis  of  the  so- 
cial compact.  The  deliberative  orator,  whose  ap- 
peal must  always  be  to  the  sentiments  of  good  and 
evil,  rooted  in  the  minds  of  his  auditory,  must  al- 
ways adapt  his  discourse  to  that  standard  measure 
of  the  land. 

The  ancient  practice  of  declamation  was  an 
ingenious  and  useful  exercise  for  improving  in  the 
art  of  deliberative  oratory.  A  character  and  a 
situation,  generally  known  in  history,  were  assum- 
ed ;  and  the  task  of  the  declaimer  was  to  compose 
and  deliver  a  discourse  suitable  to  them.  The 
Greek  and  Roman  historians  introduce  speeches 
of  this  kind  in  the  midst  of  their  narratives;  and 
among  them  are  so  many  examples  of  the  most 
admirable  eloquence,  that  we  regret  the  cold  accu- 
racy of  modem  history,  which  has  discarded  this 
practice,  without  providing  any  adequate  substi- 
tute in  its  stead. 

As  amplification  has  been  said  to  be  the  favor- 
ite resort  of  demonstrative  oratory,  the  allegation 
of  examples  is  the  most  effectual  support  of  delib- 
erative discourses.  There  is  nothing  new  under 
the  sun.     The  future  is  little  more  than  a  copy  of 


LECT.  XI.]        DELIBERATIVE   ORATORY.  271 

the  past.  What  hath  been  shall  be  again.  And 
to  exhibit  an  image  of  the  past  is  often  to  present 
tlie  clearest  prospect  of  the  future.  The  exam- 
ples, which  are  adduced  successfully  by  the  delib- 
erative speaker,  are  of  two  kinds  ;  first  fictitious 
inventions  of  his  own,  second  real  events,  bor- 
rowed from  historical  fact.  The  first  of  these  arc 
called  by  Aristotle  fables,  and  the  second  para- 
bles. The  fable,  which  may  be  invented  at  the 
pleasure  of  the  speaker,  is  more  easily  applied  to 
his  purpose  ;  but  the  parable,  always  derived  from 
matter  of  fact,  makes  a  deeper  impression  upon 
the  minds  of  the  audience.  In  the  rude  ages  of 
society,  and  among  the  uncultivated  class  of  man- 
kind, the  power  of  fable,  and  still  more  of  parable 
to  influence  the  will,  is  scarcely  conceivable  upon 
mere  speculative  investigation.  But  it  is  demon- 
strated by  the  uniform  tenor  of  all  human  expe- 
rience. The  fable  of  Menenius  Agrippa  stands 
conspicuous  in  the  Roman  annals.  It  pacified  one 
of  the  most  dangerous  insurrections,  which  ever 
agitated  that  turbulent  but  magnanimous  people. 
The  scriptures  of  the  old  testament  bespeak  the 
efficacy  of  these  instruments  in  a  manner  no  less  en- 
ergetic. But  their  unrivalled  triumph  is  in  the 
propagation  of  the  christian  gospel ;  whose  exalt- 


272  DELIBERATIVE   ORATORY.      (]lECT.  XI. 

ed  founder  wq  are  told  "  needed  not  that  any 
should  testify  of  man ;  fov  he  knew  what  was  in 
man;"  and  who  deUvered  his  incomparable  sys- 
tem of  morality  altogether  through  the  medium 
of  fables  and  parables  ;  both  of  which  in  the  writ- 
ings of  the  evangelists  are  included  in  th^  latter 
term.  "  And  with  many  parables  spake  he  the  word 
unto  them,  as  they  were  able  to  hear  it ;  but  with- 
out a  pai'able  spake  he  not  unto  them."* 

The  principal  feature  in  the  style  of  delibera- 
tive oratory  should  be  simplicity.  Not  that  it 
disdains,  but  that  it  has  seldom  occasion  for  deco- 
ration. The  speaker  should  be  much  more  so- 
licitous for  the  thought,  than  for  the  expression. 
This  constitutes  the  great  difference  between  the 
diction  proper  for  this,  and  that,  which  best  suits 
the  two  other  kinds  of  oratory.  Demonstrative 
eloquence,  intended  for  show,  delights  in  ostenta- 
tious ornament.  The  speaker  is  expected  to 
have  made  previous  preparation.  His  discourse 
is  professedly  studied,  and  all  the  artifices  of 
speech  are  summoned  to  the  gratification  of  the  au- 
dience. The  heart  is  cool  for  the  reception,  the 
mind  is  at  leisure  for  the  contemplation  of  polish- 
ed periods,  oratorical  numbers,   coruscations  of 

*  Mark,  iv.  33. 


LEGT.  XI.]     DELIBERATIVE    ORATORY.  273 

metaphor,  profound  reflection,  and  subtle  ingenu- 
ity. But  deliberative  discussions  require  little 
more  than  prudence  and  integrity.  Even  judicial 
oratoiy  supposes  a  previous  painful  investigation 
of  his  subject  by  the  speaker,  and  exacts  an  elabo- 
rate, methodical  conduct  of  the  discourse.  But 
deliberative  subjects  often  arise  on  a  sudden,  and 
allow  of  no  premeditation.  Hearers  are  disincline 
ed  to  advice,  which  they  perceive  the  speaker  has 
been  dressing  up  in  his  closet.  Ambhious  orna- 
ment should  then  be  excluded,  rather  than  sought. 
Plain  sense,  clear  logic,  and  above  all  ardent  sen- 
sibility, these  are  the  qualities,  needed  by  those 
who  give,  and  tliose  who  take  counsel.  A  pro- 
fusion of  brilliancy  betra}s  a  speaker  more  full  of 
himself,  than  of  his  cause ;  more  anxious  to  be 
admired,  than  believed.  The  stars  and  ribbands 
of  princely  favor  may  glitter  on  the  breast  of  the 
veteran  hero  at  a  birth-day  ball ;  but,  exposed  to 
the  rage  of  battle,  they  only  direct  the  bullet  to 
his  heart.  A  deliberative  orator  should  bury 
himself  in  his  subject.  Like  a  superintending 
providence,  he  should  be  visible  only  in  his  migh- 
ty works.  Hence  that  universal  prejudice,  both 
of  ancient  and  modern  times,  against  written,  de- 
liberative discourses  ;  a  prejudice,  which  bade 
35 


274  DELIBERATIVE   ORATORY.     [lECT.  XI. 

defiance  to  all  the  thunders  of  Demosthenes. 
In  the  midst  of  their  most  enthusiastic  admiration 
of  his  eloquence,  his  countrymen  nevertheless 
remarked,  that  his  orations  "  smelt  too  much  of 
the  lamp." 

Let  it  however  be  observed,  that  upon  great 
and  important  occasions  the  deliberative  orator 
may  be  allowed  a  more  liberal  indulgence  of  pre- 
paration. When  the  cause  of  ages  and  the  fate 
of  nations  hangs  upon  the  thread  of  a  debate,  the 
orator  may  fairly  consider  himself,  as  addressing 
not  only  his  immediate  hearers,  but  the  world  at 
large;  and  all  future  times.  Then  it  is,  that, 
looking  beyond  the  moment,  in  which  he  speaks, 
and  the  immediate  issue  of  the  deliberation,  he 
makes  the  question  of  an  hour  a  question  for  eve- 
ry age  and  every  region ;  takes  the  vote  of  un- 
born millions  upon  the  debate  of  a  little  senate, 
and  incorporates  himself  and  his  discourse  with 
the  general  history  of  mankind.  On  such  occa- 
sions and  at  such  times,  the  oration  naturally  and 
properly  assumes  a  solemnity  of  manner  and  a 
dignity  of  language,  commensurate  with  the  gran- 
deur of  the  cause.  Then  it  is,  that  deliberative 
eloquence  lays  aside  the  plain  attire  of  her  daily 
occupation,  and  assumes  the  port  and  purple  of 


LECT.  XI.]      DELIBERATIVE   ORATORY.  275 

the  queen  of  the  world.  Yet  even  then  she  re- 
members, that  majestic  grandeur  best  comports 
with  simphcity.  Her  crown  and  sceptre  may 
blaze  with  the  brightness  of  the  diamond,  but  she 
must  not,  like  the  kings  of  the  gorgeous  east,  be 
buried  under  a  shower  of  barbaric  pearls  and  gold. 


LECTURE    XII. 


JUDICIAL  ORATORY. 


h4!H 


IN  the  two  last  lectures,  which  I  delivered 
from  this  place,  I  considered  the  two  classes  of 
public  orations,  usually  denominated  the  demon- 
strative and  the  delil^erative ;  pointed  out  their 
peculiar  characteristics;  the  ends,  to  which  they 
are  severally  directed  ;  and  the  arguments,  espe- 
cially suited  to  them.  Demonstrative  oratory,  I  in- 
formed you,  was  that  species  of  public  speaking, 
which  consists  of  discourses,  formally  prepared, 
and  delivered  in  celebration  of  some  person  or 
public  event.  I  observed  tliat,  whether  in  the 
form  of  such  public  orations,  or  introduced  inci- 
dentally into  discourses  of  business  deliberative  or 
judicial,  it  included  all  panegyric  and  invective. 


278  JUDICIAL   ORATORY.       [lECT.  XII. 

Tliat  praise  or  censure  was  its  ultimate  object ; 
honor  and  shame  the  hinges,  upon  which  it  re- 
volved. That  demonstration  in  rhetoric  bears  a 
meaning  xer}'  different  from  demonstration  in 
matlicmatics.  That  the  demonstration  of  a  pane- 
gyric is  by  no  means  the  demonstration  of  a  the- 
orem. The  one  is  incontrovertible  proof;  the 
other  is  the  breath  of  fame.  Thus,  originating 
from  the  same  source,  the  signification  of  the 
word  is  modified  by  the  science,  to  which  it  ap- 
plies, until  in  Euclid  it  conveys  the  idea  of  irre- 
fragable proof;  in  Quinctilian,  that  of  oratorical 
display.  Here  a  solid  substance ;  there  an  insub- 
stantial pageant. 

Of  deliberati\'e  orator}^  I  remai'ked,  that  the 
final  purpose  was  utility.  That  its  relation  was 
always  to  future  time  ;  its  issue  a  measure  to  be 
adopted  or  rejected ;  and  the  subjects  within  its 
competency,  under  our  fornns  of  government,  the 
most  important  and  extensive  of  any,  in  which  or- 
atory can  be  concerned.  The  difference  between 
deliberative  and  judicial  oratory,  of  which  I  am 
now  particularly  to  speak,  is,  in  relation  to  the  ob- 
jects of  which  it  treats,  the  difference  ])etween 
time  future  and  time  past.  Judicial  oratory  man- 
ages the  litigation  of  causes  public  or  private, 


LECT.  XII.]        JUDICIAL  ORATORY.  279 

civil  or  criminal,  in  the  courts  of  justice.  In  oth- 
er words  it  is  the  eloquence  of  the  bar. 

In  delivering  the  precepts  of  demonstrative  and 
deliberative  oratory,  little  more  was  necessary  than 
to  form  a  selection,  and  ai'range  into  a  system  the 
rules,  prescribed  by  the  great  rhetoricians  of  an- 
tiquity. The  nature,  the  character,  the  purpose 
of  discourses,  belonging  to  these  classes,  are  pre- 
cisely the  same  in  the  present,  as  in  former  ages  ; 
in  our  own  country,  as  at  Athens  and  Rome.  Not 
so  of  judicial  oratory.  The  fundamental  princi- 
ples, upon  which  a  judicial  cause  must  be  manag- 
ed at  this  time,  are  as  different,  as  the  institutions 
and  the  forms  of  proceeding,  under  which  it  aris- 
es ;  and,  in  order  safely  to  apply  any  part  of  the 
doctrines  of  the  ancient  rhetoricians  to  our  own 
usages  and  practices,  it  will  first  be  necessary  to 
indicate  die  difference  between  their  judicial  insti- 
tutions and  modes  of  process  and  ours. 

Now  the  common  standard  of  all  judicial  argu- 
ments, according  to  Aristotle,  Cicero,  and  Quinc- 
tilian,  is  justice,  or  equity ;  which  was  to  be 
measured  sometimes  by  the  written  laws,  and 
sometimes  by  natural  reason,  independent  of  posi- 
tive prescription  ;  and  sometimes  even  in  contra- 
diction to  it.      The  tribunals  of  the  Greeks  and 


280         JUDICIAL  ORATORY.   [lECT.  XII. 

Romans  consisted  of  persons,  who  were  judges 
bodi  of  the  fact  and  of  the  law.  They  also  exer- 
cised a  sort  of  dispensing  power,  and  could  ex- 
empt a  piuty  from  the  operation  of  the  written  law 
in  cases,  when  that  was  deemed  to  act  too  rigor- 
ously, and  to  interfere  with  the  dictates  of  natural 
equity.  Something  of  a  similar  nature  is  still  cus- 
tomary among  us  in  the  courts  of  chancery ;  in- 
stitutions originally  borrowed  from  the  Roman 
law,  and  still  governed  in  a  great  measure  by  the 
principles,  established  in  the  code  of  Justinian. 
But  the  powers  of  our  chancery  courts  are  confin- 
ed within  very  narrow  limits.  In  this  common- 
wealth they  are  admitted  only  within  the  extent  of 
jurisdiction,  allotted  to  the  courts  of  the  union,  and 
are  excluded  from  the  coguizance  of  all  criminal 
cases  whatsoever.  The  courts  of  common  law, 
before  which  almost  all  our  judicial  controversies 
are  tried,  consist  not  of  a  single,  but  of  a  double 
tribunal ;  the  judge  or  judges,  who  are  author- 
ized to  decide  all  questions  of  law,  and  the  jury, 
who  pronounce  upon  e\'ery  question  of  fact. 
Hence  arises  a  division  of  the  subject  altogether 
different  from  that  of  the  ancient  rhetors.  Instead 
of  inquiring  whether  his  cause  rests  upon  a  state 
of  conjecture,  of  definition,  of  quantity,  or  of  qual- 


LECT.XII.]       JUDICIAL   ORATORY.  281 

ity,  the  American  lawyer  must  ascertain  whether 
he  is  to  try  an  issue  in  fact,  or  an  issue  in  law  ;  a 
distiriction  not  only  much  more  clear,  but  much 
more  important,  since  the  issue  in  fact  is  to  be  argu- 
ed before  a  jury,  and  the  issue  in  law  before  the 
judges  ;  tribunals  differently  constituted  ;  consist- 
ing  of  persons  different  in  station,  in  character,  in 
powers  ;  accessible  to  arguments  of  different  de- 
scriptions ;  and  swayed  only  by  one  inviolable 
common  control,  the  written  law.  The  whole  man- 
agement of  the  cause  and  the  nature  of  all  the  tes- 
timonies vary  according  to  the  course,  which  it  as- 
sumes, of  requiring  the  determination  by  the  ver- 
dict of  the  jury,  or  by  the  opinion  of  the  court. 

Let  it  however  be  remarked,  because  it  is  a 
consideration  of  material  importance  to  the  judi- 
cial orator,  that  this  di\'^ision  of  powers  between  the 
judges  and  the  jury  ^vas  made  by  the  common 
law,  not  so  clearly,  nor  with  a  definition  of  boun- 
daiies  so  precise,  as  to  leave  these  authorities  un- 
controverted.  In  England,  the  country  where 
the  common  law,  together  with  this  system  of  ju- 
dicial proceedings,  originated,  and  even  in  our 
own  countr}-,  there  have  been  very  sharp  disputes 
how  far  the  authority  of  the  court  and  jury  re- 

specti\'ely  extend,  and  where  is  the  line  of  separa- 
36 


282  JUDICIAL  ORATORY.       [lECT.  XII. 

tion  between!  them.  The  ancient  maxim  of  the 
common  law  was  explicit ;  ad  questionem  juris 
respondent  judices  ;  ad  questionem  facti  juratores. 
But  in  the  administration  of  criminal  justice  espe- 
cially it  was  not  so  easy  to  separate  the  question  of 
law  from  that  of  fact,  as  to  say,  that  they  should  be 
tried  by  different  persons.  In  all  trials  for  crimes 
the  guilt  or  innocence  of  the  party  depends  upon 
the  application  of  the  law  to  the  fact ;  and,  when  a 
jury  by  their  verdict  pronounce  a  man  guilty,  they 
not  only  determine  the  fact,  which  he  has  commit- 
ted, but  also  the  law,  by  which  that  fact  is  made 
to  constitute  guilt. 

In  all  general  verdicts  therefore  the  jury  pro- 
uiounce  both  upon  the  fact  and  the  law.  On  the 
other  hand,  after  the  cause  has  been  argued  by  the 
parties  or  their  counsel  to  the  jury,  the  judges  are 
in  the  constant  practice  of  addressing  the  jury,  and 
stating  to  them  the  law,  with  its  application  to  the 
facts  upon  trial.  In  this  part  of  the  judge's  duty  it 
is  as  difficult  for  him  to  confine  himself  exclusive- 
ly to  the  consideration  of  the  law,  as  it  is  for  a  ju- 
ry, without  implicating  a  decision  of  the  law,  to 
pronounce  a  party  guilty.  The  judge  explains  to 
the  jury  the  injunctions  of  the  law  upon  a  given 
state  of  facts  ;  and  to  make  his  discourse  pertinent 


LECT.  XII.]        JUDICIAL  ORATORY.  283 

it  must  be  that  identical  state  of  facts,  upon  which 
they  are  to  decide.  Ho^v  then  can  he  speak  the 
dictate  of  the  law,  without  intimating  his  opin- 
ion of  the  fact  ?  The  obstacle  is  inherent  in  the 
nature  of  the  thing ;  and  the  division  of  powers 
between  judge  and  jury,  professed  by  the  com- 
mon law,  is  not  always  practicable.  Thus^  fai' 
however  the  lawyer  has  an  unequivocal  rule  for 
the  management  of  his  cause.  If  any  question 
of  fact  is  involved  in  the  controversy,  the  cause 
must  go  to  the  ]\iry.  But  if  die  parties  have  no 
dispute  upon  the  facts,  and  their  contest  is  merely 
upon  die  operation  of  the  law,  it  is  within  the  ex» 
elusive  province  of  the  judge.  Hence  the  parties 
often  have  it  at  their  option,  whether  they  will 
take  a  trial  by  the  court,  or  by  the  jurj- ;  and  there 
are  certain  forms  of  pleading,  suited  to  produce  an 
issue  in  law  ;  and  others,  which  are  adapted  to  an 
issue  in  fact. 

This  system  of  pleas  and  pleadings,  of  which 
in  a  former  lecture  I  have  taken  some  notice,  em- 
braces in  substance  the  whole  code  of  the  com- 
mon law.  Of  its  importance  to  those  of  you,  who 
are  destined  hereafter  to  the  profession  of  the  law, 
it  were  needless  for  me  to  speak  here  at  large,  as  it 
will  occupy  a  great  portion  of  your  time  and  studr 


284  JUDICIAL  ORATORY.       [lECT.  XII. 

ies,  after  you  shall  take  your  leave  of  tlie  universi- 
ty, as  pupils.  But  it  is  strictly  witiiin  the  prov- 
ince of  these  lectures  to  mark  its  operation  upon 
the  eloquence  of  tlie  bar,  and  to  consider  it,  as  one 
of  the  causes,  which  contribute  to  render  all  the 
precepts  of  ancient  rhetoric  so  inapplicable  to  the 
practice  of  our  judicial  courts. 

The  forms  of  process,  both  civil  and  criminal, 
among  the  ancients  were  very  simple  and  very 
general.  In  the  accusation  against  Verrcs  Cicero 
makes  an  apology  to  the  judges  for  passing  over 
the  licentious  debaucheries  of  that  offender's 
youth;  intimating,  that  their  turpitude  was  so 
shocking,  that  he  could  not  describe  them  without 
violating  his  own  modesty.  Then,  addressing 
himself  to  the  culprit,  he  says,  "  fourteen  years 
have  elapsed,  since  you,  Verres,  held  the  office  of 
quaestor.  From  that  day  to  this  I  put  in  judg- 
ment every  thing  you  have  done.  Not  an  hour  of 
your  life  through  that  whole  period  will  be  found 
unpolluted  by  some  theft ;  some  baseness ;  some 
cruelty  ;  some  villany.  During  those  years  you 
successively  disgraced  the  offices  of  quaestor,  of 
delegate  in  Asia,  of  praetor  in  the  city,  and  of 
praetor  in  Sicily.  From  the  functions  of  these 
several  public  stations  will  arise  the  fourfold  distri- 


LECT.  XII.]       JUDICIAL  ORATORY.  285 

bution  of  my  whole  accusation."  From  this  pasr. 
sage  it  is  apparent,  that  under  a  general  impeach- 
ment the  whole  life,  public  and  private,  of  the 
party  charged  was  open  to  scrutiny.  So  tiiat  the 
accuser  might  prove  against  him  whatever  he 
pleased  to  consider  as  an  offence,  civil,  political,  or 
moral.  From  the  oration  for  Muraena  tlie  infer- 
ence may  with  equal  certainty  be  drawn,  that  die 
forms  of  pleading  in  civil  causes  were  substantiid- 
ly  not  more  difficult  nor  complicated.  Cicero 
speaks  of  them  with  contempt ;  derides  diem  as  a 
compilation  of  verbose  and  unmeaning  pedantry  ; 
and  affirms,  that  amidst  the  multiplicity  of  busi- 
ness, with  which  every  hour  of  his  life  was  load- 
ed,  he  would  undertake  to  make  himself,  in  three 
days,  a  perfect  master  of  the  whole  science.  And 
from  some  specimens,  which  he  introduces  in  his 
argument,  it  is  apparent,  that  the  same  identical 
forms  were  susceptible  of  adaptation  to  every  case, 
and  that  the  whole  compass  of  legal  controversy 
was  reducible  to  one  common  rubric. 

This  looseness  in  the  system  of  pleadings  still 
continues  to  characterize  the  proceedings  in  the 
courts,  founded  upon  the  principles  and  governed 
by  the  doctrines  of  the  civil  law.  It  was  diametri- 
cally opposite  to  the  whole  spirit  and  tenor  of  tlic 


286  JUDICIAL   ORATORY.        [lECT.XII. 

common  law.  By  the  original  genius  of  tlie  com- 
mon la\v  a  great  proportion  of  every  trial,  civil 
or  criminal,  consisted  of  the  pleadings.  Kvery 
charge  must  be  precise,  specific,  single.  The  vi- 
olation of  law  must  be  alledged  in  terms  as  con- 
cise and  unequivocal,  as  human  wit  could  devise. 
Every  fact  must  be  narrated  with  the  minutest  ac- 
curacy of  time,  place,  and  circumstance.  The 
answer  must  be  drawn  up  with  the  same  logical 
acuteness.  Every  fact,  charged  in  violation  of 
law,  must  be  met  by  a  direct  denial,  in  terms  ex- 
pressly adapted  to  the  nature  of  tlie  charge.  Eve- 
ry accusation  in  vague  or  general  terms,  unsup- 
ported by  positive  law,  must  be  repelled  by  an  ap- 
peal to  the  judge,  whether  the  party  was  bound  to 
answer.  The  issue  consisted  of  a  single  question, 
either  of  fact  for  the  decision  of  the  jury,  or  of  law 
for  the  determination  of  the  judge. 

In  process  of  time  however,  as  the  increase  of 
commercial  intercourse  multiplied  the  sources  of 
litigation,  this  extreme  strictness  in  the  forms  of 
the  common  law  became  often  inconvenient  and 
troublesome.  The  hedges  of  special  pleading  were 
found  sometimes  to  obstruct  the  avenues  to  truth. 
The  excess  of  caution  sometimes  opened  to  chi- 
canery the  door,  which  it  closed  upon  justice.     A 


LECT.  XII.]        JUDICIAL   ORATORY.  287 

multitude  of  suitors  were  driven  to  seek  redress  in 
the  chancery  courts ;  the  pliancy  of  \vhose  forms 
was  more  easily  accommodated  to  the  complicat- 
ed transactions  of  commerce.  Hence  arose  a  con- 
flict of  jurisdictions  between  the  courts  of  common 
law  and  of  chancery ;  and,  although  the  former 
eventually  maintained  their  ascendency,  they  grad- 
ually relaxed  from  the  rigor  of  their  system  of 
pleading,  and  by  tlie  invention  of  various  legal  fic- 
tions assimilated  their  forms  of  process  in  a  multi- 
tude of  cases  to  those  of  the  civil  or  Roman  law. 
The  late  Lord  Mansfield,  ^^  ho  for  a  long  series  of 
years  presided  alternately  in  the  chancer}-'  and  in 
the  highest  common  law  court  of  England,  went 
so  far  towards  affecting  a  complete  revolution  in 
the  doctrine  of  pleadings,  that  his  successors  have 
found  it  expedient  to  retrace  many  of  his  steps. 
In  our  own  country  tlie  prejudices  against  chance- 
ry courts  have  been  much  stronger,  than  they  ever 
were  in  England.  They  were  altogether  excluded 
from  the  jurisprudence  of  this  state  before  the  rev- 
olution, and  until  the  judiciary  system  of  the  Unit- 
ed States  obtained  for  them  a  partial  admission. 
But  the  common  law  doctrine  of  pleadings  has  oc- 
casionally been  modified  by  our  local  statutes,  and 
by  the  practice  of  the  bar.    And  the  enlargements, 


288  JUDICIAL  ORATORY.   [lECT.  XIl. 

^vhich  Lord  Mansfield  opened  to  the  British  plead- 
ers, have  generally  been  imitated  in  our  courts. 
But  all  the  common  law  maxims  of  pleading  still 
remain  in  full  force  and  unimpaired  in  all  cases  of 
criminal  prosecutions.  Their  operation  indeed 
generally  affects  only  the  accuser.  The  defend- 
ent,  or  prisoner  at  the  bar,  is  never  perplexed 
with  any  subtleties  of  pleading.  A  simple  decla- 
ration, that  he  is  not  guilty,  termed  the  general  is- 
sue, reserves  to  him  every  advantage  of  defence, 
which  he  can  derive  from  the  facts  or  the  law. 
But  the  prosecutor  cannot  advance  a  step  without 
a  written  accusation,  penned  with  the  most  scru- 
pulous, technical  accuracy.  There  is  no  possibili- 
ty of  putting  in  judgment  every  thing,  that  a  man 
has  done  for  fourteen- years.  No  prosecutor  would 
be  suffered,  upon  a  charge  of  malversation  in  office, 
to  rake  up  the  rankness  of  a  dissolute  youth  for 
the  purpose  of  heaping  the  measure  of  opprobrium 
upon  the  prisoner.  Had  the  judges  upon  the  trial 
of  Verres  possessed  powers,  circumscribed  within 
the  limits  of  our  institutions,  almost  all  the  elo- 
quence of  Cicero  would  have  been  not  merely  su- 
perfluous, but  inadmissible.  The  official  misde- 
meanors would  have  been  cognizable  by  one  tri- 
bunal ;  the  private  wrongs  by  another ;  the  thefts 


LECT.  XII.]       JUDICIAL   ORATORY.  289 

and  acts  of  cruelty  by  a  third  ;  and  in  all,  every  in- 
fraction of  right  must  have  been  charged  in  lan- 
guage, stripped  of  every  blossom  of  oratory  by  an 
article  of  impeachment,  a  writ  of  trespass,  or  an  in- 
dictment. These  written  accusations  would  have 
marked  the  limits,  within  which  all  his  evidence  and 
all  his  argument  must  have  been  confined.  Like 
the  stakes  and  floating  buojs,  which  edge  the  nar- 
row channel  of  an  expansive  but  shallow  river, 
they  would  have  continually  reminded  him,  that  he 
could  not  proceed  a  foot  beyond  them  without 
stranding.  Not  a  witness  could  he  have  called  to 
any  offence,  not  specified  in  the  pleadings.  Not  a 
word  could  he  without  rebuke  have  uttered,  un- 
connected with  his  allegations  and  his  proofs.  Had 
he  lifted  his  torch  upon  tlie  midnight  revels  of  his 
adversary's  bo3ish  days,  some  learned  judge 
would  have  told  him,  that  those  scenes  might  be 
left  to  their  own  darkness.  Had  he  apostrophized 
the  Alban  groves,  and  lakes,  and  fountains,  he 
would  have  been  stopped  by  a  hint  from  the  bench, 
that  he  was  traveling  out  of  the  record. 

While  the  shackles  of  pleading  thus  restrain 
the  excursive  powers  of  oratory  on  the  part  of  the 
prosecution,  those  of  the  defendant,  or  party  ac- 
cused, are  scarcely  less  cramped  by  another  limit- 
37 


^90  JUDICIAL  ORATORY.       [lECT.  Kit. 

ation  of  our  judicial  authorities.  The  judges  of 
ancient  times  had  not  only  the  powers  of  deciding 
both  upon  the  law  and  the  fact ;  they  also  exer- 
cised a  sort  of  dispensing  power  ;  or  rather  the 
power  of  pardoning  offences  was  accumulated  up- 
on that  of  inflicting  punishment.  This  power  of 
pardon  has  in  our  country  been  most  carefully  sep- 
arated from  the  judicial  functions,  and  vested  ex- 
clusively in  the  executive  government.  Among 
th^  ancients  the  judges  had  before  them  not  only 
the  question,  whether  the  accused  was  guilty  or 
innocent ;  but  the  subsequent  question,  how  far 
his  punishment  should  be  aggi'avated  or  mitigated; 
and  A\'hether  it  should  be  inflicted  or  remitted. 
This  discretionary  power  of  determining  the 
degree  of  punishment  was  even  paramount  to 
the  written  and  positive  law;  a  striking  exam- 
ple of  which  we  have  in  the  sentence,  passed 
and  executed  upon  the  accomplices  of  Catiline. 
The  law  was  clear  and  express,  that  no  Ro- 
man citizen  should  be  punished  with  death. 
Yet  the  associates  of  Catiline  were  executed  by  a 
decree  of  the  senate.  The  question,  w^hether  they 
should  suffer  death,  or  only  perpetual  imprison- 
ment with  confiscation  of  their  estates,  was  ear- 
nestly debated  in  senate.     The  fourth  of  what  are 


LECT.  XII.]       JUDICIAL  ORATORY.  291 

called  Cicero's  orations  against  Catiline  is  upon 
this  question ;  and  in  Sallust  you  have  read  the 
speeches  of  Caesar  and  of  Cato  upon  the  same  oc- 
casion. From  this  latitude  of  discretion  in  the 
powers  of  the  court  we  perceive  the  foundation  of 
all  tliose  appeals  to  the  passions  of  the  judges,  so 
earnestly  recommended  by  the  precepts  of  Cicero, 
and  so  often  exemplified  in  his  practice.  Hence 
it  was,  that  every  man  under  accusation  was  ex- 
pected to  throw  himself  upon  the  compassion  of 
his  judges  ;  to  assume  the  garb  of  mourning ;  to 
apply  for  the  countenance  and  solicitations  of  his 
friends ;  to  exhibit  his  family  in  the  agonies  of 
distress ;  and  to  count  upon  the  tears  of  his  infant 
children  among  his  most  powerful  means  of  de- 
fence. 

But  our  courts  of  justice  possess  neither  the 
power  of  aggravating  nor  of  remitting  a  punish- 
ment. Guilty  or  not  guilty  is  the  only  question 
for  the  determination  of  the  jury  upon  criminal 
prosecutions  ;  and  this  question  they  ai*e  solemnly 
sworn  to  decide  according  to  the  evidence.  When 
dieir  verdict  is  delivered,  their  functions  are  at  an 
end.  The  punishment  of  the  offender  is  not  with- 
in their  province.  The  sentence  is  awarded  by 
the  judges,  to  whom  in  this  respect  some  discre- 


$02  JUDICIAL  ORATROY.       [lECT.  XII. 

tioiiary  power  is  entrusted,  in  cases  less  than  capi- 
tal, to  proiX)rtion  the  penalty  to  the  degree  of  the 
olFcncc.      But  even  this  discretion  is  very  scantily 
bestowed.      In  all  cases  of  life  and  death,  and  in 
many  others,  the  judges  are   merely  the    living 
voices  of  the  law ;  empowered  barely  to  pronounce 
the  decree,  which  that  has  prepared  before  the  com- 
mission of  a  crime.      The  administration  of  pub- 
lic justice  is  in  substance  a  strict  logical  syllogism, 
of  which  the  written  law  forms  the  major  propo- 
sition, the  verdict  of  the  jury  the  minor,  and  the 
sentence  of  the  court  the  conclusion.     Every  man, 
guilty  of  treason,  shall  be  put  to  death,  says  the 
written  law,      A.  B.  is  guilty  of  treason,  says  the 
verdict  of  the  jury  ;  therefore,  says  the  sentence  of 
the  court,  A.  B.  shall  be  put  to  death. 

This  distribution  of  the  judicial  powers  be- 
tween judge  and  jury,  together  with  this  separation 
of  the  dispensing  or  pardoning  power  from  both, 
affords  a  copious  and  a  profitable  subject  of  reflec- 
tion to  the  legal  student,  and  to  the  philosophical 
inquirer  into  the  organization  and  principles  of  our 
government.  It  is  a  distribution  and  division 
perhaps  as  important  to  the  liberties  of  a  nation,  as 
the  separation  of  the  legislative  and  executive  pow- 
ers, and  the  division  of  the  former  between  two 


LECT.  XII.]       JUDICIAL  ORATORY.  293 

assemblies.  But  in  the  light,  in  which  I  now  con- 
sider it,  I  am  barely  to  point  out  its  necessary  ef- 
fect upon  judicial  eloquence ;  and  you  will  imme- 
diately perceive,  that  it  cuts  up  by  the  roots  all  the 
precepts  of  ancient  rhetoric,  which  place  the  per- 
fection of  the  art  in  the  address,  with  which  the  or- 
,  ator  assails  tlie  passions  of  the  judge.  It  calls  for 
a  management  of  causes  upon  principles  not  mere- 
ly different,  but  opposite  to  those  of  antiquity. 
The  common  standard  of  judicial  arguments  is  no 
longer  natural  justice  or  equity,  but  positive  law. 
The  first  fountains  of  the  art  are  no  longer  the 
same. 

It  is  indeed  true,  that  this  difference  is  much 
greater  in  criminal,  than  in  civil  jurisprudence. 
An  estimate  of  damages  for  a  breach  of  contract, 
a  settlement  of  accounts  between  merchants,  the 
mere  controversies  of  bargain  and  sale,  are  deter- 
minable in  all  ages  and  nations  upon  nearly  the 
same  principles ;  and  in  the  very  ftw  orations  of 
Greece  and  Rome,  still  extant,  of  this  description, 
there  is  little,  which  might  not  with  equal  proprie- 
ty be  said  in  a  modern  court  of  justice.  And  yet, 
if  a  modem  lawyer  were  to  open  an  argument  to  a 
court,  as  Cicero  begins  his  oration  for  Quinctius, 
by  observing,  that  the  personal  influence  of  the 


n 


-94  JUDICIAL   ORATORY.       [lECT.  XII. 

suitor  and  the  eloquence  of  his  counsel  were  the 
two  principal  sources  of  success,  he  would  run  a 
great  risk  of  a  severe  reprimand  from  the  bench. 
If  an  American  barrister  should  undertake  by  an 
elaborate  argument  to  prove,  that  the  Abbe  Delille 
Avas  a  citizen  of  the  United  States,  because  he  was 
an  excellent  French  poet,  if  all  the  muses  should  • 
combine  to  compose  his  oration,  not  five  senten-  ^ 
ces  of  it  would  he  be  suffered  to  deliver.  Yet  ex- 
amine that  inimitable,  that  immortal  oration  for 
Archias,  and  amidst  that  unbounded  blaze  of  elo- 
quence, with  which  it  beams,  observe  the  nucleus 
of  argument,  upon  which  it  revolves.  Archias 
was  a  Roman  citizen,  because  he  was  a  Greek  po- 
et. Were  a  counsellor  in  the  courts  of  these 
states  to  start  a  train  of  reasoning  like  this,  tke 
judges  would  instantly  ancst  the  career  of  his  or- 
ator}%  by  calling  for  the  certificate  of  naturaliza- 
tion. 

Yet  we  are  not  to  conclude,  that  judicial  elo- 
quence is  to  be  excluded  from  the  systems  of  mod- 
ern rhetoric.  Restricted  and  limited,  as  the  orator  at 
the  bar  must  now  be,  there  is  yet  an  unmeasured 
difference  between  speaking  well  and  ill  on  a  judi- 
cial trial.  If  there  is  less  room  for  powerful  ad- 
dresses to  the  passions  of  the  judges,  there  is  more 


L£CT.  XII.]       JUDICIAL  ORATORY.  295 

necessity  for  convincing  their  understandings. 
The  success  of  a  suitor  does  not  depend  upon  the 
eloquence  of  his  counsel ;  but  his  failure  may  fol- 
low from  the  want  of  it.  Oratory  will  not  prove 
so  often  the  victorious  auxiliary  to  a  bad  cause  ; 
but  it  will  be  an  equally  necessary  aid  to  a  good 
one. 

I  have  thought  it  necessary  to  lay  open  to  your 
minds  the  primary  causes,  which  make  it  necessa- 
ry to  vary  the  very  principles  ol  judicial  orator}' 
from  those  transmitted  by  our  ancient  teachers. 
Many  of  their  precepts  however,  in  detail,  may 
still  be  used  to  great  advantage.  In  a  subsequent 
lecture  I  shall  notice  those  of  tlieir  instructions, 
which  are  still  susceptible  of  adoption  or  modifica- 
tion, and  suggest  some  further  observations  res- 
pecting the  course,  to  be  pursued  in  judicial  causes 
tinder  our  own  institutions. 


LECTURE    XIII. 

JUDICIAL  ORATORY. 


FROM  the  tenor  of  my  preceding  lectures  you 
must  have  collected,  that,  while  the  principles  of 
demonstrative  and  deliberative  oratory  arc  the 
same  in  every  age  and  countr}"-,  where  the  art  is 
practised,  those  of  judicial  eloquence  must  be  va- 
ried and  modified  by  the  laws  and  judicial  institu- 
tions of  the  time  and  place.  The  importance  of 
this  idea  must  plead  my  apology  for  dwelling  widi 
earnestness  upon  its  developement,  for  tecurring 
again  to  it  at  this  time,  and  for  presenting  it,  with 
the  hope  of  giving  it  additional  illustration,  under 
another  point  of  view  to  your  reflections. 

Observe  then,  that  demonstrative  and  delibera- 
tive oratory  are  not  of  necessity  connected  with  anv 
38 


1298  JUDICIAL    ORATORY.       [lECT.  XIII, 

particular  social  institutions.  The  subjects  of 
panegyric,  of  invective,  or  of  deliberation,  are  in- 
deed diversified  under  different  forms  of  govern- 
ment, but  do  not  necessarily  result  from  them. 
An  eulogy  or  a  philippic  may  be  pronounced  by 
an  individual  of  one  nation  upon  the  subject  of 
another.  Deliberation  may  occur  between  per- 
sons, bound  by  no  social  compact  together.  Civil 
or  political  institutions  may  incidentally  be  the 
subjects,  but  are  not  of  the  essence  of  such  dis- 
courses. Praise,  censure,  exhortation,  and  ad- 
vice, are  dispensed  and  bestowed  by  man,  as  a  ra- 
tional being,  to  his  fellow  creature,  endowed  with 
the  same  faculty.  The  Greeks  and  Romans,  as 
we  have  seen,  allowed  much  of  the  same  latitude 
to  their  municipal  tribunals.  But  under  our  im- 
proved theories  of  natural  and  social  rights  posi- 
tive institution  is  the  indispensable  ingredient  of  all 
judicial  discourse.  The  whole  amount  of  every 
trial  can  be  neither  more  nor  less,  than  a  conflict 
between  law  and  transgression.  To  try  a  man  by 
the  laws  of  one  nation  for  an  offence  against  the 
laws  of  another  would  be  at  once  the  extreme  of 
oppression  and  the  height  of  absurdity.  The 
common  standard  then,  by  which  all  judicial  argu- 
ment must  be  measured,  is  law ;  the  whole  drift  of 


LECT.  XIII.]       JUDICIAL  ORATORY.  299 

an  advocate's  eloquence,  to  display  the  conformity 
between  the  cause  of  his  client  and  the  law ;  the 
whole  purpose  of  a  prosecutor,  to  vindicate  its  vi- 
olation ;  the  whole  defence  of  innocence,  to  dis- 
prove its  infringement. 

Now  the  particulars  in  our  judicial  institutions 
of  the  most  material  importance  to  the  forensic 
speaker  are  three. 

1.  The  division  of  all  offences  against  the  laws 
into  public  and  private  \vrongs ;  Math  the  conse- 
quent distinction  between  courts  of  criminal  and 
civil  jurisdiction. 

2.  The  division  of  public  wrongs  into  two 
classes ;  personal  ^vrongs,  which  may  be  commit- 
ted by  every  man,  as  an  individual ;  and  official 
crimes  or  misdemeanors,  committed  by  public  of- 
ficers, and  triable  by  impeachment.   And 

3.  The  division  of  powers,  mentioned  in  my 
last  lecture,  between  the  judges  and  jury,  in 
the  course  of  ordinary  jurisdiction  ;  and  the  separa- 
tion of  the  power  of  pardoning  offences  from 
both. 

1.  Under  our  state  of  society  every  individual 
is  entitled  to  certain  rights,  recognised  and  defined 
by  the  original  social  compact,  or  by  the  laws,  en- 
acted under  it.      It  is  the  primary  object  of  civH 


300  JUDICIAL  ORATORY.       [lECT.  XIII. 

society  and  of  government  to  protect  every  indi- 
vidual in  the  enjoyment  of  tliesc  rights.     Some  of 
them  are  of  such  magnitude,  that  their  support 
and    vindication   are  cxckisively  retained  in  tlie 
hands  of  the  body  pohiic  itself,  while  others  are 
secured  to  the  individual  only  by  a  pledge  of  as- 
sistance from  the  public  authority,  whenever  its 
aid  may  be  found  necessary.     Such  is  die  distinc- 
tion, so  well  known  to  all  lawyers,  between  pri- 
vate  and  public   wrongs;     the    private     wrong 
consisting  of  the  violation  only  of  the  right  of  indi- 
viduals ;  the  public  wrong,  in  an  outrage  upon  the 
rights  of  the  whole  political   society.       Thus  a 
breach  of  promise,   a  non-payment  of  debt,  or  a 
disputed  title  to  land,  is  barely  a  private  wrong,  for 
the  redress  of  which  the  injured  party  is  authoriz- 
ed to  call  upon   the  powers  of  government ;   but 
which  he  must  first  prove  by  suit  in  his  own  name, 
and  at  his  own  risk,  before  the  competent  tribunals. 
But  treason,  robbery,  murder,  theft,  and  all  those 
oflences,  which  are  included  under  the  denominar 
tion  of  crimes  and  misdemeanors,  are  of  so  much 
importance  to  the  whole  society,  that,  although 
the  direct  injury,  committed  by  them,  often  affects 
only  an  individual,  the  cause  is  adopted,  as  that  of 
the  nation ;  and  the  punishment  of  the  offender  is 


LECT.  XIII.]       JUDICIAL   ORATORY.  301 

prosecuted  in  the  name  of  the  sovereign.  Hence 
the  distinction  between  the  civil  and  criminal  ju- 
risdiction of  our  courts ;  a  distinction  sedulously 
to  be  remembered  by  the  judicial  orator,  because, 
although  these  jurisdictions  are  among  us  united 
in  our  highest  courts,  yet  there  are  difterent  rules 
of  evidence,  diftbrentmaximsof  law,  and  difterent 
modes  of  practice,  established  in  them.  Under 
the  civil  jurisdiction  the  cause  is  brought  forward 
by  th6  party,  and  is  called  an  action  ;  under  the 
criminal  jurisdiction  it  is  prosecuted  by  the  gov- 
ernment. In  civil  causes  the  controversy  is  only 
between  two  or  more  individuals,  the  plaintiff  and 
the  defendant.  In  criminal  causes  it  is  between  the 
public  on  one  side,  and  the  person  accused  on  the 
other.  The  right  of  action  must  be  pursued  by 
the  individual  himself,  or  by  his  agents.  The 
public  wrong  is  not  entrusted  to  the  pursuit  of  any 
individual.  Select  bodies  of  men  are  from  time 
to  time  appointed,  whose  task  it  is  to  inquire  into 
all  such  offences,  committed  in  their  vicinity,  and 
to  present  them  to  the  competent  courts  for  trial. 
The  accusation  is  drawn  up  under  the  name  of  an 
indictment,  and  is  managed  by  a  permanent  public 
officer.  The  person  accused  is  then  arraigned, 
and  usually  pleads,  that  he  is  not  guilty  of  the  of- 


.102  JUDICIAL  ORATORY.       [lECT.  XIII, 

fence,  chaigcd  against  him  ;  and  by  this  answer  he 
makes  it  necessary  for  the  attorney  general,  or 
person  conducting  the  prosecution,  to  prove  both 
the  law  and  the  facts.  If  the  accusation  fail  in  the 
proof  of  either,  the  accused  must  be  discharged. 

The  influence  of  these  particulars  in  our  judi- 
cial institutions  upon  the  eloquence  of  the  bar  will 
be  most  readily  discerned,  by  recurring  to  the  in- 
structions of  the  ancient  rhetoricians  for  the  man- 
agement of  judicial  argument,  and  observing  what 
would  now  be  their  application. 

They  make  no  distinction  between  causes  of 
civil  and  of  criminal  jurisdiction.  Their  rules  and 
precepts  are  all  calculated  for  the  management  of 
criminal  prosecution  or  defence  ;  and  they  tell  us, 
that  all  the  necessary  variations  upon  the  conduct 
of  civil  causes  will  be  so  obvious  to  the  practition- 
er, that  they  need  not  to  be  specially  indicated. 
In  our  courts  so  great  is  the  difference  between 
these  two  descriptions  of  cases,  that  the  same  rules, 
which  would  be  prescribed  for  the  one,  must  be 
proscribed  for  the  other  ;  and  the  same  practice 
would  appear  on  one  side  in  the  form  of  injunc- 
tion, on  the  other  in  that  of  prohibition. 

Thus  for  example  Quinctilian  lays  it  down, 
that,  in  discussing  the  state  of  conjecture  upon  a 


LECT.  XIII.]       JUDICIAL  ORATORY.  303 

question,  wliether  the  party  accused  is  guilty  of 
the  crime,  charged  against  him,  the  course  of  in- 
quiry will  be  directed  to  tliree  distinct  points ;  the 
will,  the  power,  and  the  fact ;  that  is,  that  the  nat- 
ural division  of  the  prosecutor's  argument  must  be 
to  prove,  first,  tliat  the  accused  had  die  will  to 
commit  the  offence ;  secondly,  that  he  had  the 
power ;  and  thirdly,  that  he  actually  did  commit  it. 
The  means  of  investigating  the  first  of  these 
points,  the  will,  are  largely  discanted  upon  by 
Quinctilian.  The  object  was  to  scrutinize  the 
motives  of  the  inculpated  party  ;  to  pry  into  his 
general  impulses  to  action,  resulting  either  from 
personal  character  or  from  special  inducement. 
Thus,  if  a  man  was  accused  of  murder,  his  prose- 
cutor was  to  labor  in  the  first  instance  to  establish 
the  belief,  that  his  i^ersonal  character  was  bold, 
rash,  violent,  cruel ;  that  he  was  addicted  to 
turbulent  and  angry  passions  ;  or  that  his  interest 
was  liable  to  be  promoted  by  the  result  of  the  act 
The  argument,  derived  from  interest,  was  indeed 
deemed  so  forcible,  that  we  leai'n  from  Cicero,  it 
was  a  general  salvo  for  all  deficiencies  of  other  ev- 
idence in  the  practice  of  a  celebrated  Roman  judge, 
whose  only  question  to  ascertain  the  criminal  in 
all  doubtful  cases  was,  cui  bono  ;    ^vho  was  to  be 


^304  JUDICIAL  ORATORY.        [lECT.  XIII. 

<the  gainer  by  the  deed.  A  great  proportion  of 
argument,  in  all  the  judicial  orations  of  Cicero 
himself,  is  devoted  to  this  investigation  of  motives, 
or  research  into  the  will.  His  address  in  handling 
the  subject  will  always  command  our  admiration  ; 
and  the  inquiry  naturally  leads  an  ingenious  and 
reflecting  mind  into  a  profound  and  acute  per- 
ception of  the  operations  of  the  human  heart.  But 
the  principles  of  our  criminal  jurisprudence  by  no 
means  admit  so  great  a  latitude  of  inquir}',  nor 
open  such  a  range  for  eloquence  upon  presump- 
tions, drawn  from  the  will.  The  humane  maxim 
of  the  common  law  considers  every  man  as  inno- 
cent, until  he  is  proved  guilty.  The  general  rep- 
utation, the  personal  disposition,  or  even  the  in- 
citements of  passion  or  interest  to  the  commission 
of  a  criminal  act,  may  indeed  occasionally  have  an 
involuntary  weight  upon  the  mind  of  a  juror ;  but 
they  are  scarcely  ever  topics,  upon  which  a  prose- 
cutor can  enlarge.  The  sound  and  merciful  logic 
of  our  laws  always  infers  the  motive  from  the  ac- 
tion, and  not  the  action  from  the  motive.  The 
mercies  of  the  common  law  are  not  entrusted  to  the 
discretion,  nor  to  the  passions  of  individual  judg- 
es; they  are  converted  into  fixed  and  uniform 
principles.      In  our  criminal  jurisprudence  justice 


LECT.XIII.]        JUDICIAL   ORATORY.  305 

herself  holds  an  uneven  balance.  She  never  lifts 
her  scales  without  throwing  the  weight  of  mercy 
into  that  of  the  accused.  She  lays  no  claim  to  im- 
partiality. She  avows  freely  her  preference,  that 
ten  guilty  should  escape,  rather  than  that  one  in- 
nocent should  suffer.  She  not  only  permits,  but 
commands  her  judges  to  be  of  counsel  for  the 
prisoners.  She  directs  juries,  even  though  the 
balance  of  testimony  should  preponderate  against 
the  accused,  yet  if  a  reasonable  doubt  can  be  rais- 
ed in  his  favor,  to  dismiss  him  unpunished.  She 
catches  with  eagerness  at  every  gleam  of  probabili- 
ty, which  leads  to  acquittal.  She  admits  with  reluc- 
tance even  a  certainty,  which  compels  conviction. 
Hence  you  will  readily  perceive,  that  the  prin- 
ciples for  the  management  of  a  criminal  prosecu- 
tion are  toto  coclo  different  from  those  for  con- 
ducting its  defence.  The  inquiry  into  the  will, 
the  motives,  or  the  interest  of  the  party  can  sel- 
dom afford  any  assistance  to  the  prosecutor;  but 
it  may  be  of  material  service  to  the  defendant. 
The  attorney  general  is  rarely  indulged  with  an 
opportunity  of  arguing  the  guilt  of  a  culprit  from 
his  personal  character,  or  common  fame.  Still 
less  can  he  urge,  as  a  proof  against  him,  that  his 

interest  was  promoted  by  the  event.      But  tliesc 
39 


306  JUDICIAL  oRATORy.     [lect.  xiii, 

topics  may  be  employed  with  success  in  favor  of 
the  accused.  An  irreproachable  character,  a  fair 
reputation,  are  presumptions  in  favor  of  innocence, 
of  which  a  skilful  advocate  never  fails  to  avail 
himself.  Still  more  confidently  may  he  rely  upon 
the  efficacy  of  arguments  to  show,  tliat  there  was 
no  temptation  of  interest,  that  could  operate  upo«i 
his  client  to  stimulate  his  commission  of  the  act ; 
and  if  his  interest  can  be  shown  to  have  suffered 
detriment  from  the  issue,  it  furnishes  an  argument 
of  tlie  most  conclusive  nature  in  his  behalf. 

The  second  source  of  argument,  mentioned  by 
Quinctilian,  is  the  power ;  a  track  of  reasoning 
more  exclusively  confined  to  the  defence  of  caus- 
es in  our  criminal  courts,  than  even  that  of  the 
will.  A  public  prosecutor,  who  should  at  this 
day  attempt  to  raise  the  conclusion,  that  a  prisoner 
at  the  bar  w  as  guilty  of  the  crime  charged  against 
him,  upon  so  frail  a  basis,  as  that  he  had  the  pow- 
er to  commit  it,  would  be  suspected  of  having  lost 
his  senses.  But  nothing  is  more  natural  and  more 
visual  in  a  course  of  defence,  than  for  the  party  to 
alledge,  that  the  act  imputed  to  him  had  not  been 
in  his  power.  The  most  usual  fonn,  in  which 
this  defence  appears,  is  in  undeitaking  to  prove, 
that  the  accused  was  at  the  time,  when  the  crime 


JLECT.  XIII.]       JUDICIAL   ORATORY.  307 

was  committed,  in  another  place ;  a  defence  per- 
fectly decisive  of  the  cause,  when  clearly  made 
out ;  but  which  has  been  so  often  resorted  to  by 
desperate  offenders,  who  depend  only  upon  the 
testimony  of  their  accomplices  to  accredit  the  fact, 
that  to  set  up  an  alibi  is  proverbial  among  those, 
who  are  conversant  in  the  practice  of  our  criminal 
courts,  as  the  last,  desperate  refuge  of  an  all  but 
convicted  felon.  In  ordinary  cases  therefore  diis 
defence  terminates  in  a  question  upon  the  credibil- 
ity of  the  witnesses ;  for  however  desirous  all  ju- 
ries are  to  find  the  person  upon  trial  innocent,  the}' 
understand  too  well  the  common  refuges  of  guilt, 
lightly  to  credit  the  pretence  of  an  alibi. 

There  remains  then  only  the  third  of  the 
points,  recommended  by  Quinctilian  to  the  con- 
sideration of  the  judicial  orator,  which  in  our 
courts  of  justice  affords  materials  for  argument 
both  upon  the  prosecution  and  the  defence ;  tliat 
is,  the  discussion  of  the  fact.  Upon  our  princi- 
ples the  fact,  once  proved,  renders  all  investiga- 
tions of  the  will  or  the  power  useless ;  and  without 
proof  of  the  fact  no  indication  of  the  will,  no  de- 
monstration of  the  power  is  admissible. 

The  general  result,  which  the  judicial  orator 
must  draw  from  the  division  of  offences  into  pub- 


308  JUDICIAL  ORATORY.       [lECT.  XIII. 

lie  and  private  wrongs,  and  the  consequent  dis- 
tinction between  the  civil  and  criminal  jurisdic- 
tions are,  that  a  speaker  at  the  bar  must  conduct 
the  prosecution  and  the  defence  of  a  criminal  cause 
upon  principles  altogether  different,  and  in  some 
respects  opposite  ;  and  that  those  for  the  manage- 
ment of  a  civil  action  again  essentially  differ  from 
both.  On  a  civil  suit,  a  mere  controversy  be- 
tween party  and  party,  the  rule  of  perfect  impar- 
tiality returns  to  govern  our  courts  and  juries. 
No  bias  in  favor  of  a  defendant  is  allowed ;  no  de- 
struction ;  no  permission  even  to  the  judges  to  be 
of  counsel  for  him ;  no  direction  to  the  jury  to 
grasp  at  every  rational  doubt,  as  conclusive  in  his 
favor.  Justice  again  becomes  even-handed ;  she 
balances  probabilities  ;  she  admits  on  both  sides 
inquiries  into  the  will  and  the  power,  as  \vell  as  in- 
to the  fact ;  she  receives  the  testimony  of  written 
depositions,  which  on  all  criminal  trials  she  re- 
jects. The  parties  stand  in  court  on  equal 
ground,  and  their  advocates  possess  precisely  the 
same  latitude  of  discussion.  This  difference  is  pe- 
culiarly remarkable  in  those  cases,  which  are  in- 
cluded both  among  the  public  and  private  wrongs; 
such  as  assault  and  battery,  defamation,  and  libels. 
For  these  acts  a  man  is  liable  to  a  double  prosecu- 


LECT.XIII.]        JUDICIAL   ORATORY.  309 

tion ;  one  by  the  party  injured,  for  the  damage 
specially  sustained  by  him  ;  the  other  by  the  pub- 
lic, for  the  violation  of  the  peace.  But  so  different 
are  the  maxims,  upon  which  these  two  trials  of  the 
same  act  are  conducted,  that  on  one  of  them  the 
testimony  of  the  complainant  himself  is  received, 
while  on  the  other  it  is  rejected ;  nor  is  it  unusual 
to  see  a  man  acquitted  and  convicted  of  the  same 
act  by  these  two  forms  of  process. 

2.  The  division  of  public  WTongs  into  two 
classes,  personal  offences,  triable,  as  I  have  above 
described,  by  jury,  and  official  offences,  triable 
by  impeachment,  forms  the  second  of  those  cir- 
cumstances, upon  which  every  modern  American 
system  of  rhetoric  ought  to  be  constructed. 

By  the  constitution  of  the  United  States,  and 
by  that  of  this  commonwealth,  the  senate  of  the  Un- 
ion and  of  the  state  are  respectively  constituted 
courts  for  the  trial  of  offences,  committed  by  pub- 
lic officers  in  their  official  capacity.  The  power 
of  impeaching  such  offenders  is  in  both  cases  ex- 
clusively given  to  the  house  of  representatives  ; 
and  the  power  of  the  senate  extends  no  further, 
than  to  remove  the  person  impeached  from  office, 
and  declare  him  disqualified  from  holding  any 
other  office  of  honor,  trust,  or  profit.      The  opera- 


310  JUDICIAL  ORATORY.       [lECT.  XIII. 

tion  of  this  trial  is  only  upon  a  man's  official  ca- 
pacity ;  for  he  may  individually  be  tried  again  by 
indictment  for  the  same  act,  upon  which  he  has 
been  tried  by  impeachment. 

Impeachments  are  events  of  so  rare  occur- 
rence, and  a  judicial  orator  will  so  rarely  be  called 
to  take  a  pait  in  them,  that  it  can  scarcely  be  ne- 
cessary to  spend  much  time  in  prescribing  a  for- 
mal system -of  rules  for  his  observance.  As  the 
power  of  accusation  is  entrusted  only  to  a  branch 
of  the  legislature,  its  exercise  is  assimilated  as 
muth  to  deliberative,  as  to  judicial  functions. 
The  question  in  every  individual  case,  whether 
the  house  will  impeach,  is  purely  deliberative ;  and 
is  decided  like  all  others  of  a  similar  nature. 
When  the  impeachment  is  resolved  upon,  the 
house  usually  appoint  a  small  number  of  their 
own  members,  as  managers  for  its  prosecution. 
The  senate  sit  as  judges  both  of  the  law  and  of  the 
fact ;  but  a  concurrence  of  t^vo  thirds  of  the  mem- 
bers is  essential  to  the  conviction  of  the  person  im- 
peached. 

The  field  of  argument,  opened  upon  a  trial  of 
this  description,  is  obviously  very  different  from 
that  presented  by  an  ordinary  jury  trial.  The 
subject  in  controversy  is  the  discharge  of  official 


LECT.  XIII.]       JUDICIAL  ORATORY.  311 

functions ;  the  questions  at  issue  are  upon  the  na- 
ture and  extent  of  public  duties  ;  and  the  inter- 
ests implicated  are  those  of  the  nation  at  large. 
The  principles  of  the  ordinary  criminal  jurispru- 
dence are  partially,  but  not  entirely  applicable  to 
the  proceedings  of  this  extraordinar}^  tribunal. 
The  judges  are  less  rigorously  bound  to  consult 
alone  the  prescriptions  of  positive  law.  Moral 
and  even  political  considerations  may  contribute 
in  some  degree  to  the  formation  of  their  judg- 
ment. They  may  therefore  be  urged  both  upon 
the  attack  and  the  defence  of  these  charges.  But 
if  it  should  ever  hereafter  be  the  lot  of  any  of  you, 
as  probably  it  may,  to  be  called  to  act  in  cases  of 
this  nature,  whedier  as  prosecutors  or  as  judges, 
the  most  important  precept  I  can  give  you,  and 
that,  which  I  most  earnestly  wish  you  from  this 
day  to  remember,  is  never  to  make  impeachment, 
nor,  as  far  as  may  depend  on  you,  never  to  suffer 
it  to  be  made  an  engine  of  party. 

3.  The  division  of  the  judiciary  powers  be^ 
tween  the  judges  and  the  jury,  and  the  separation 
of  the  dispensing  or  pardoning  power  from  both, 
have  already  been  largely  considered  in  my  pre- 
ceding lecture.  You  have  there  seen,  that  in  gen- 
eral questions  of  law  are  to  be  argued  to  the  juds:- 


312  JUDICIAL   ORATORY.       [lECT.  XIII. 

es,  and  questions  of'  fact  to  the  jur3%  The  mate- 
rials of  argument  arc  therefore  as  different,  as  the 
characteristics  of  the  persons,  to  whom  they  are 
addressed.  To  the  bench  their  common  centre 
of  reference  is  the  law ;  to  the  jury  they  hinge  al- 
most entirely  upon  the  evidence. 

The  judges  are  always  few  in  number ;    often 
there  is  but  one.      They  are  usually  men  of  pro- 
found legal  learning,  trained  to  their  office  by  a 
long  course  of  study,  and  a  career  of  full  practice 
in  the  profession.      The  tenure,  by  which  they 
hold  their  offices,  is  permanent  during  good  be- 
haviour ;  which  in  ordinary  cases  is  equivalent  to  a 
tenure  for  life.     The  rule  of  their  duty  is  uniform 
and  invariable  ;  having  nothing  to  consult  but  the 
law.     With  minds  so  highly  cultivated,  and  with 
a  line  of  duty  so  clearly  marked  out,  they  are  gen- 
erally inaccessible  to   any  influence   of  passion. 
They  are  not  to  be  swayed  by  the  artifices,  which 
are  sometimes   successful  in  deliberative  assem- 
blies.     It  is  vain  to  address  any  application  to 
their  hopes  or  their  fears.      They  are  not  allowed 
even  to  indulge  the  most  amiable   weakness  of 
compassion.     As  ministers  of  the  law,  they  are 
bound  indeed  to  dispense  the  mercies  of  the  law ; 
but  these,  as  I  have  shown  you,  are  not  left  to  their 


LECT.  XIII.J       JUDICIAL    ORATORY.  313 

discretion.  The  benefits,  provided  for  the  party 
upon  trial,  are  secured  to  him  as  a  right.  They 
are  not  discretionary  in  the  breast  of  the  judge. 
These  are  all  intended  for  the  protection  of  inno- 
cence. Mercy  should  sometimes  also  be  extend- 
ed to  the  guilt)'.  But  this  power  the  laws  have 
chosen  to  vest  elsewhere.  A  compassionate 
would  therefore  be  a  guilty  judge.  When  the 
judge  ascends  the  tribunal,  he  must  leave  his  heart 
behind  him.  There  he  must  be  all  head ;  all  in- 
tellect ;  impassive  and  impenetrable  to  the  sensi- 
bilities, the  most  endearing  to  the  human  charac- 
ter. Whatever  conviction  can  be  carried  to  his 
mind  must  be  accomplished  by  the  means  of  cool, 
solid  reasoning  and  lucid  developement. 

Our  juries  consist  of  a  very  different  descrip- 
tion of  men.  They  are  occasional  and  not  per- 
manent bodies  ;  selected  for  a  single  cause,  and 
consisting  of  the  same  men,  only  during  one  ses- 
sion of  a  court.  They  are  appointed  from  among 
the  respectable  citizens  of  various  employments  ; 
but  the  members  of  all  the  learned  professions  are 
either  exempted  or  excluded  from  service  upon 
them.  There  are  of  course  no  regularly  bred  law- 
yers, and  few  men  of  refined  mental  cultivation 

among  them.     Their  principal,  and  in  most  cases 

40 


314  JUDICIAL  ORATORY.       [lECT.  XIII. 

their  only  functions  are  to  ascertain  controverted 
facts.  For  even  when  they  decide  upon  the  law, 
as  by  a  general  verdict  they  always  may,  they 
usually  receive  it  from  the  bench,  and  pronounce 
conformably  to  the  opinion  of  the  judge. 

Thus  then  it  follows  as  a  corollary  from  our 
judicial  institutions,  that  an  argument  to  the  court 
is   essentially  a    disquisition  of  law;     an  argu- 
ment to  the  jury,  a  comment  upon  evidence.     In 
both  the  ultimate  object  of  the  orator  is  not  to  per- 
suade, but  to  convince ;     the   triumph  of  the  art 
to  operate  not  upon  the  will,  but  upon  the  under- 
standing.     To  accomplish  this  an  able  advocate 
must  vary  the  style  and  substance  of  his  discourse 
to  suit  the  diversities  of  situation  and  characters  of 
the  two  auditories.     To  the  bench  his  most  pow- 
erful instrument  of  conviction  is  profound  and  ac-. 
curate  deduction.     To  the  jury  his  most  effectual 
weapon  is  copious  elucidation.      His  address  to 
the  judge  should  be  concise  without  obscurity ; 
to  the  jury,  copious  without  confusion.     He  must 
incessantly  bear  in  mind,  that  the  court  is  not  an 
ignorant,  nor  the  jury  a  learned  body  of  men.  The 
consummation  of  eloquence  is  in  the  adaptation  of 
the  ideas  in  the  speech  to  the  ideas  already  in  the 
minds  of  the  hearers.     To  the  judge  it  will  suffice 


LECT.  XIII.]       JUDICIAL   ORATORT.  315 

to  present  results.     To  the  jury  you  must  often 
unfold  principles. 

The  customary  mode  of  transacting  business 
in  our  judicid  courts  makes  it  seldom  possible, 
and  perhaps  never  advisable  to  address  either  the 
bench  or  the  jury  in  speeches,  previously  written. 
In  criminal  causes  the  testimony  must  all  be  oral, 
delivered  by  witnesses  in  open  court.  The  cause 
always  takes  its  complexion  from  their  rela- 
tions, and  after  they  have  been  heard  the  counsel 
are  scarcely  ever  allowed  any  time  for  prepai-ation. 
Their  discourse  must  be  immediate  and  extempo- 
raneous ;  and  when  a  case  comes  on  for  trial,  the 
advocates,  by  whom  it  is  managed,  seldom  pre- 
cisely know  themselves  what  its  state  will  be. 
The  examination  and  cross-examination  of  the 
witnesses  is  itself  one  of  the  severest  tests  of  a  law- 
yer's talents.  The  testimony  often  assumes  its 
color  from  the  feelings  and  character  of  the  wit- 
nesses. They  are  sometimes  unable  and  some- 
times unwilling  to  testify  what  they  really  know. 
They  are  sometimes  inclined  to  put  their  own 
gloss  upon  the  facts,  to  which  they  are  knowing, 
and  sometimes  need  reminding,  that  the  truth  and 
the  whole  truth  are  not  always  identically  the  same. 
They  arc  often  discovered  to  have  their  partiali- 


316  JUDICIAL  ORATORY.       [lECT.   XIII. 

ties,  and  to  sympathize  too  much  with  one  of  th& 
parties.  Even  with  a  sacred  and  inviolate  regard 
for  truth,  different  witnesses  often  relate  the  same 
transaction  with  great  diversities  ot  circumstance. 
One  incident  struck  the  observation  or  remains 
upon  the  memory  of  one  witness ;  another  upon  that 
of  his  neighbour.  To  eviscerate  the  truth  from  a 
body  of  testimony  is  perhaps  the  most  arduous  task 
of  a  modern  lawyer ;  but  it  seldom  admits  of  pre- 
vious preparation,  and  never  of  writing.  Upon 
civil  causes,  altliough  depositions  of  absent  wit- 
nesses are  admitted,  the  course  of  trial  is  common- 
ly of  the  same  kind,  and  alike  extemporaneous. 
Arguments  to  the  court  are  more  susceptible  of 
previous  wxiting.  As  they  are  exclusively  con- 
fined to  the  establishment  of  some  doubtful  point 
of  law,  they  consist  of  a  continuiil  chain  of  deduc- 
tions, resembling  mathematical,  rather  than  ora- 
torical demonstration.  But  sometimes  the  opin- 
ion of  the  court  is  settled  before  the  argument 
commences.  The  advocate  often  asserts  posi- 
tions, which  the  judge,  deeming  erroneous,  im- 
mediately controls  or  denies.  Every  interruption 
of  this  kind  would  disconcert  a  written  speech. 
So  that  of  all  public  speaking  judicial  oratory  is 


L£CT.  XIII.]       JUDICIAL  ORATORY.  317 

that,  which  most  requires  previous  meditation,  and 
least  admits  of  previous  writing. 

Yet  although  the  eloquence  of  the  bar  so  ma- 
terially differs  from  that,  of  which  Cicero  and 
Quinctilian  were  masters,  in  one  respect  it  still  re- 
tains the  same  character.  The  bar  is  beyond  all 
question  the  scene  of  the  greatest  difficulty  to  the 
public  speaker,  and  that,  where  the  rarest  combi- 
nation of  talents  is  indispensable  for  the  attainment 
of  eminence.  The  demonstrative  orator  stands 
alone.  He  has  no  antagonist  before  him.  He  has 
had  his  own  time  for  every  species  of  preparation. 
He  runs  for  an  undisputed  prize,  and  bears  away 
the  palm,  if  he  can  but  succeed  to  amuse  his 
hearer.  The  deliberative  speaker  must  make  his 
way  against  opposition,  but  he  stands  only  as  one 
among  many.  His  sources  of  argument  are  more 
abundant  and  more  general.  Deliberation  relates 
to  future  time.  The  decision  turns  upon  a  bal- 
ance of  contingencies.  The  question  of  expedi- 
ency is  decided  by  a  majority  of  votes,  but  leaves 
it  still  undetermined  whose  foresight  of  futurity 
was  most  accurate.  The  out-numbered  voters 
may  still  appeal  to  the  issue  of  future  events.  But 
at  the  bar  time  past,  right  and  wrong,  existing  law, 
are  the  materials  in  contest.      Property,  liberty, 


518  JUDICIAL  ORATORY.       [lECT.  XIII. 

reputation,  life,  aie  the  objects  at  stake.  The 
fame  and  fortune  of  the  speaker  himself  are  bound 
up  in  the  issue  with  the  dearest  interests  of  his  cli- 
ent. He  stands  under  tlie  eye  of  a  sharp-sighted 
adversarj^,  eager  to  snatch  at  every  error,  and  to 
turn  every  unwary  concession  to  his  own  advan- 
tage ;  of  learned  and  able  judges,  jealous  of  their 
own  honor  and  reputation,  quick  to  detect  false  rea- 
soning, fastidious  to  trivial  declamations,  and  ev- 
er cautious  to  shelter  their  understanding  from  be- 
ing taken  by  surprize.  He  is  ever  liable  to  be 
misled  by  his  own  client,  whose  self-delusion  and 
partialities  often  represent  his  cause  more  favora- 
ble, than  it  proves  upon  investigation ;  and  he 
must  be  incessantly  upon  the  watch  against  the 
arts  of  a  zealous  opponent.  In  the  management 
of  an  important  cause,  an  advocate  seems  placed  in 
a  state  of  warfare  against  all  mankind.  The  an- 
tagonist is  an  open  and  inveterate  foe.  The  judge 
must  at  least  be  redeemed  from  neutrality  to  join 
his  side  ;  and  the  client  himself,  by  his  anxieties, 
his  fears,  and  his  prejudices,  hangs  continual  and 
irretrievable  ruin  over  his  cause.  Success  is  at- 
tended with  little  honor.  It  passes  but  for  the  or- 
dinary course  of  justice.  Failure  is  accumulated 
mortification.     It  consists  not  alone  in  the  sentence 


LECT.  XIII.]       JUDICIAL  ORATORY.  319 

of  the  court.  A  triumphant  adversary,  and  a  cli- 
ent, as  prone  after  the  issue  to  impute  his  misfor- 
tune to  his  counsel,  as  he  was  to  prepare  it  by  his 
mismanagement,  are  the  ordinary  and  unavoidable 
aggravations  of  defeat.  This  active  and  incessant 
collision  however  sharpens  the  faculties,  while  it 
tries  the  temper  of  the  mind.  It  brings  every 
talent  at  once  to  the  test,  and  to  the  light.  Men 
of  other  occupations  may  have  feeble  capacities 
without  exposure,  or  great  abilities  without  dis- 
covery. As  a  speaker  at  the  bar,  a  man  must 
open  to  public  view  all  the  strength  and  all  the 
weakness  of  his  mind.  Dulness  has  no  refuge 
from  detection.  Envy  has  no  shroud  for  the  kind- 
ling radiance  of  genius.  The  first  and  most  dis- 
tinguished station  in  the  ranks  of  oratory  must  still 
be  assigned  to  the  eloquence  of  the  bar. 


LECTURE  XIV. 

ELOQUENCE    OF    THE    PULPIT. 


THE  purpose  of  my  lectures    hitherto  has 
been  in  the  first  instance  to  make  you  famiharly 
acquainted  with  the  principles,  transmitted  in  the 
writings  of  the  ancient  rhetorical  masters  ;    and  in 
the  next  to  discriminate  those  parts  of  their  pre- 
cepts, which  were  inseparably  connected  with  the 
social  institutions  and  manners  of  the  ages  and  na- 
tions, for  which  they  wrote,  from  those,   which, 
being  founded  upon  the  broad  and  permanent  ba- 
sis of  human  nature,  are  still  applicable,  and  will 
ever  retain  their  force,  while  gratitude  and  admira- 
tion shall  swell  the  voice  of  praise  ;    while  free- 
dom shall  prompt  to  deliberation,  and  while  jus- 
tice shall  hold  her  balance  upon  earth.      For  the 
41 


322  ELO(^UENCE   OF  [lECT.  XIV. 

doctrines  of  demonstrative  and  deliberative  ora- 
tory' we  have  little  else  to  do,  but  to  receive  and 
register  in  our  memory  the  instructions  of  our  an- 
cient guides.  But  we  have  been  compelled  to  de- 
part widely  from  them  in  tracing  the  proper  course 
of  judicial  eloquence  ;  and  we  are  now  to  enter  up- 
on an  element,  where  their  guidance  entirely  fails 
us.  The  eloquence  of  the  pulpit  is  to  the  science 
of  rhetoric  what  this  western  hemisphere  is  to  that 
of  geography.  Aristotle  and  Quinctilian  are  as 
incompetent  to  mark  its  boundaries,  as  Pausanias 
or  Strabo  to  tell  us  the  latitude  of  Davis'  Straights 
or  Cape  Horn.  In  exploring  this  new  region,  like 
Columbus  on  his  first  voyage  to  this  continent,  we 
find  our  magnet  has  deserted  us.  Our  needle 
points  no  longer  to  the  pole. 

Pulpit  oratory  may  be  considered,  as  coeval 
with  the  first  introduction  of  Christianity.  And  it 
has  undoubtedly  been  one  of  the  most  effectual 
means,  by  which  that  religion  with  all  its  blessings 
has  been  so  extensively  propa'gated  throughout 
the  earth.  It  has  been  practised  at  every  period 
and  in  every  region,  favored  with  the  christian  dis- 
pensation ;  and  during  several  centuries  preserved 
the  only  glimmering  of  literature  and  eloquence, 
which  remained  in  the  world. 


LECT.  XIV.]  THE   PULPIT.  323 

The  opinions  respecting  the  substance  and  the 
manner,  most  proper  for  tlie  addresses  of  the 
christian  orator,  have  fluctuated  with  tlie  revoUi- 
tions  of  doctrines  and  of  taste.  At  one  time  the 
pulpit  has  been  made  the  vehicle  of  unintelligible 
mysticism ;  at  another  of  unfathomable  metaphys- 
ics ;  at  a  third  of  fluiatical  inflamation.  It  has 
been  the  instrument  of  the  Nvorst  abuses  of  the 
Romish  church,  and  the  most  eftectual  weapon  of 
the  reformation.  Athanasius,  Peter  the  Hermit, 
Wicliff,  Huss,  Luther,  and  Calvin,  successively 
and  successfully  employed  this  mighty  engine  for 
tlie  propagation  of  error  and  of  trudi.  During  the 
space  of  four  hundred  yeais  it  poured  the  myriads 
of  Europe  upon  the  shores  of  Palestine,  to  recover 
from  infidels  the  sepulchre  of  Christ.  For  three 
succeeding  centuries  it  armed  nation  against  na- 
tion upon  questions  of  speculative  doctrine  and 
ecclesiastical  discipline.  Since  the  invention  of 
printing  its  powers  have  indeed  been  more  cir- 
cumscribed,  both  by  the  participation  and  by  the 
control  of  that  art.  Yet  to  this  day  it  remains 
among  the  most  energetic  instruments  of  power, 
exercised  upon  mankind. 

Many  modern  writers  of  learning  and  genius 
have  written  upon  the  theory  of  puljiit  oratory  ; 


324  ELOQUENCE  OF  [lECT.  XIV. 

but  they  have  treated  it  in  a  manner  so  different 
from  that,  which  was  pursued  by  the  ancient  rhet- 
oricians, that  it  \\i\\  not  be  easy  to  assimilate  this 
to  the  other  parts  of  these  lectures.  To  give  the 
whole  that  unity  and  consistency  of  plan,  which  is 
best  adapted  to  your  information,  it  will  be  most 
advisable  to  apply  the  principles  and  the  method  of 
Aristotle,  so  far  as  they  can  be  applied,  to  this 
more  recent  species  of  public  speaking. 

What  then  is  the  end  of  pulpit  oratory  ?  What 
is  that  common  central  point,  round  which  the  elo- 
quence of  the  sacred  orator  should  revolve ;  bear- 
ing the  same  relation  to  his  discourse,  which  we 
have  seen  praise  and  censure  bear  to  demonstra- 
tive, utility  to  deliberative,  and  law  to  judicial  ora- 
tions ? 

The  functions  of  the  christian  divine  in  the 
pulpit  are  of  two  kinds  ;  in  one  of  which  he  ad- 
dresses his  hearers,  and  in  the  other  the  supreme 
Creator.  In  one  he  speaks  to  his  fellow  mortals,  in 
the  other,  to  their  Maker.  In  one  he  is  the  moni- 
tor of  their  duties,  in  the  other,  the  organ  of  their 
wants.  The  ultimate  object  in  both  cases  is  the 
same,  to  improve  the  condition  of  the  auditory. 
But  the  means  are  different,  being  in  the  one  case 
by  obtaining  the  favor  of  providence,  in  the  other 


LECT.  XIV.]  THE   PULPIT.  525 

by  their  own  advancement  in  virtue.  Life  and 
immoitality,  the  liappiness  of  tliis  world  and  of  the 
next,  these  are  the  objects,  which  should  inspire 
every  word,  uttered  by  the  divine  from  the  sacred 
desk.  But  the  form  and  the  substance  of  the  dis- 
course  must  be  diversified  according  to  the  office, 
in  which  he  is  engaged.  Neither  the  matter  nor 
the  style  of  address  caji  be  the  same  in  expostulat- 
ing to  mortals  upon  their  own  obligations,  and  in 
supplicating  the  Father  of  the  universe  for  his  fa- 
vor and  forgiveness. 

There  are  several  sects  of  christians,  who  have 
judged  it  proper  not  to  leave  the  subject  nor  the  lan- 
guage of  social  p^^ayer  discretionary  with  individu- 
al divines  ;  but  hive  regulated  the  intercessions  in 
public  worship  by  the  establishment  of  settled 
forms  of  prayer,  diversified  and  adapted  to  the 
conditions  and  situations  of  men.  Among  those 
classes  of  christians  this  part  of  the  minister's  duty 
requires  only  the  talent  of  reading  well ;  the  prop- 
er observatioi*s  upon  which  will  arise  in  another 
pait  of  die  course.  But  when  tlie  divine  is  ex- 
pected to  compose,  as  well  as  to  pronounce  these 
addresses  to  the  Father  of  spirits,  the  execution  of 
the  task  becomes  one  of  the  most  important  parts 
of  his  duty. 


326  ELO(^UENCE   OF  [lECT.  XIV. 

The  purposes  of  social  worship  are  specifically 
and  accurately  enumerated  in  a  passage  of  the 
episcopal  liturgy.  They  are  there  declared  to  be 
first,  confession  of  sins ;  secondly,  the  return  of 
thanks  for  benefits  received ;  thirdly,  the  praise  of 
the  Creator's  transcendent  perfections ;  and  fourth- 
ly, petition,  founded  on  the  wants  of  the  congrega- 
tion, whetlier  spiritual  or  corporeal.  Of  these  four 
distinct  purposes  there  are  two,  derived  from  the 
attributes  of  the  Creator,  and  two  from  the  neces- 
sities of  the  creature.  Confession  and  petition 
are  founded  upon  the  consciousness  of  our  own  in- 
firmities, manifested  in  the  former  case  by  our 
transgressions  in  time  past ;  in  the  latter,  by  that 
incessant  recurrence  of  wants,  which  from  the  cra- 
dle to  the  grave  beset  our  animal  and  corporeal  na- 
ture; and  by  those  necessities  equally  urgent,  which 
assail  the  imbecility  of  our  minds.  Confession 
therefore  has  always  reference  to  past  and  suppli- 
cation to  future  time.  Another  distinction  to  be 
drawn  is,  that  confession  is  always  general.  Sup- 
plication is  principally  special.  The  minister 
makes  a  general  acknowledgment  for  himself  and 
his  congregation  of  those  sins,  errors,  and  imper- 
fections, which  are  incident  to  all  mankind  ;  but 
he  is  neither  required  nor  authorized  to  make  con- 


LECT.  XIV.]  THE  PULPIT.  327 

fession  of  any  individual  or  particular  sin.  But 
besides  the  general  petitions,  alike  applicable  to  all 
men  and  at  all  times,  there  are  special  occasions, 
which  give  rise  to  particular  supplications  in  be- 
half  of  individual  persons  or  families.  Thanks- 
giving and  praise  are  acts  of  immediate  homage  to 
the  Sovereign  of  the  universe.  The  first  resulting 
from  a  grateful  sense  of  those  innumerable  bless- 
ings, received  at  his  hands,  by  which  we  live,  and 
move,  and  have  our  being.  The  last,  from  that 
wonder  and  veneration,  mingled  with  love,  which 
the  displays  of  infinite  benevolence  imd  unbound- 
ed power  necessarily  enkindle  in  the  human  heart. 
In  these  constituent  parts  of  prayer  there  is  also  a 
difference  corresponding  with  that,  noticed  in  the 
two  preceding.  Thanksgiving  is  offered  for  ben- 
efits, specially  conferred  upon  ourselves ;  praise, 
for  the  general  attributes  of  excellence,  belonging 
exclusively  to  the  Deity.  Thanksgiving  is  the 
return  of  grateful  hearts  for  their  own  enjoyments ; 
praise  is  the  general  tribute  of  benediction  for 
those  energies  and  bounties,  which  created  and 
preserve  the  universe.  From  the  analysis  of  the 
several  principles,  upon  which  associated  prayer 
is  composed,  will  result  the  proper  materials  to  be 
used  in  each  of  its  departments  ;  and  the  minister 


328  ELOqUENCE   OF  [lECT. XIV. 

will  readily  perceive  the  manner,  best  suited  to 
each  p.irt  of  the  ser\'ice,  by  reflecting  on  tlie  spe- 
cial characters,  by  which  it  is  distinguished. 

Some  of  the  ancient  rhetoricians  divided  all  elo- 
quence into  reasoning-  and  feeling ;    addressed  the 
one  to  the  understanding,  and  tb.e  other  to  the  pas- 
sions ;    under  which  are  included  oil  the  accesses 
to  the  will  of  man.      The  orators  of  ancient  times 
employed  both  of  these  powers  in  everj'^  kind  of 
public  speaking,  to  which  they  were  accustomed. 
The  judicial  eloquence  of  modern  times,  as  I  have 
explained  to  you,  is  almost  exclusively  confined  to 
tlie  avenue  of  the  understanding.      The  eloquence 
of  the  pulpit  in  prayer  is  still  more  rigorously  limit- 
ed to  that  of  feeling.  It  neither  requires  nor  admits 
of  argument.      The  object  of  the  speaker  is  nei- 
ther persuasion  nor  conviction.     It  is  the  prostra- 
tion of  the  creature  before  his  Maker.      It  is  the 
effusion  of  sentiment  and  of  dut;, .      Its  essential 
characters  are   ardor  and   simplicity.      Coldness 
and   prayer    carry  an   inconsistency  in   the  very- 
terms.     All  the  objects  of  prayer  are  calculated  to 
excite  the  most  active  and  vivid  sentiments,  which 
can  arise  in  the  heait  of  man.       "  Words  that 
bum"    are  the  native  language  of  deep  feeling. 
Thev  can  never  be  translated  into^the  dialect  of  a 


LECT.  XIV.J  THE  PULPIT.  329 

temperate,  much  less  of  a  frozen  region.  Affecta- 
tion is  yet  more  irreconcileable  to  the  spirit  of 
prayer,  than  coldness.  All  affectation  is  a  spe- 
cies of  hypocrisy.  Affectation  in  prayer  is  hypoc- 
risy of  the  darkest  hue,  the  hypocrisy  of  religion. 
It  might  be  supposed  superfluous  to  deliver 
any  precepts  for  the  composition  of  prayer,  other 
than  those  contained  in  the  scriptures.  The 
Founder  of  Christianity  himself  taught  his  disci- 
ples how  to  pray,  both  by  precept  and  example. 
He  warned  them  against  the  ostentatious  hyj^ocrisy 
of  the  pharisees,  who  displayed  themselves  in  the 
synagogues  and  comers  of  the  streets  "  to  be  seen 
of  men,"  and  against  the  affected  elegance  of  the 
heathens,  who  used  vain  repetitiwis,  and  thought 
to  be  heard  for  their  much  speaking.  These  in- 
structions, with  a  proper  attention  to  the  compre- 
hensive and  perfect  simplicity  of  that  form  of  pray- 
er, which  he  gave  as  a  model  to  his  disciples,  will 
render  every  critical  injunction  unnecessarj'^,  and 
would  seem  to  render  it  impossible,  that  a  chris- 
tian pulpit  should  ever  resound  with  pompous  in- 
anity, to  be  heard  of  men,  or  with  vahi  repetitions, 
having  no  claim  to  be  heard,  but  that  of  much 

speaking. 

42 


330  ELOq^tJENCE   OF  [lECT.  XIV. 

The  other  department  of  pulpit  oratory,  the 
only  one,  which  the  modem  writers  upon  elo- 
quence have  considered  as  reducible  to  the  theo- 
ries of  human  discourse,  is  that,  wliich  consists  of 
addresses  from  the  pastor  to  his  flock  ;  discours- 
es on  topics  of  religion  and  morality,  which  in  all 
christian  countries  are  delivered  at  periodical  in- 
tervals, and  constitute  so  important  a  part  of  the 
duties  of  a  divine.  The  end  of  these  discourses 
or  sermons,  as  I  have  before  intimated,  is  the 
improvement  of  the  auditory  in  knowledge  and 
virtue.  It  combines  the  purposes  of  the  ancient 
deliberative  oratory  with  those  of  the  drama.  Its 
means  are  persuasion ;  its  object,  to  operate  upon 
the  will  of  the  hearer ;  its  result,  to  produce  action^ 
not  joint  and  corporate,  nor  immediate,  like  that 
of  deliberative  assemblies  by  the  taking  of  a  vote, 
but  individual,  progressive,  and  sometimes  remote 
action  by  a  change  of  life  and  reformation,  or  ame- 
lioration of  temper  and  conduct  in  the  auditors. 
The  speaker  may  take  advantage  of  every  possible 
argument  resting  on  the  basis  of  utility.  The  at- 
tainment of  good  and  the  avoidance  of  evil  is  the 
aim  of  his  discourse.  His  powers  of  exhortation 
are  multiplied  and  enhanced  by  the  magnitude  of 
the  interests,  which  they  embrace.      The  objects 


LECT.  XIV.]  THE   PULPIT.  331 

of  his  advice  and  admonition  are  not  merely  tem- 
poral and  momentary,  good  and  evil,  but  immor- 
tal happiness  and  misery.  He  pleads  the  cause 
not  only  of  time,  but  of  eternity. 

In  common  deliberative  assemblies,  however 
successful  the  eloquence  of  the  speaker  may  be  to 
persuade  many  of  his  heaiers,  yet,  if  a  majority 
of  the  assembly  remain  unconvinced,  his  argu- 
ment has  no  more  efficacy,  than  if  it  had  been  im- 
potent upon  every  mind.  But  it  is  high  encour- 
agement to  the  zeal  of  the  pulpit  orator,  that  not  a 
particle  of  his  persuasion  can  be  lost.  It  operates 
separately  upon  every  individual.  Howe\'er  nu- 
merous his  assembly,  however  hardened  the  mul- 
titude of  his  hearers  may  be  against  his  exhorta- 
tions, if  the  seed  he  scatters  strike  root  but  in  a 
single  heart,  his  labors  iU'e  not  lost.  His  audience 
may  consist  of  thousands,  but  he  speaks  to  them 
all  as  to  one.  To  each  individual  in  the  language  of 
Solomon  he  may  say,  "  if  thou  be  wise,  thou  shalt 
be  wise  for  thyself;  but  if  thou  scomest,  thou 
alone  shalt  bear  it." 

The  sources  of  his  arguments  may  be  derived 
from  his  subject  or  his  audience  ;  and  the  divine, 
duly  qualified  to  treat  the  great  variet}^  of  subjects, 
which  fall  within  the  compass  of  his  duties,  will 


332  ELOq^UENCE  OF  [leCT.  XIV. 

often  find  the  exercise  of  his  judgment  necessary 
to  adapt  the  choice  of  his  subject  to  the  cliaracter 
of  his  audience.     It  has  long  been  remarked,  that 
there  is  a  striking  difference  between  the  eloquence 
of  the  pulpit,  as  it  has  appeared  in  the  composi- 
tions of  the  French  and  of  the  English  divines.   A 
French  sermon  is  a  popular  discourse,  addressed 
almost  exclusively  to  the  feelings  of  the  auditory ; 
clothed  in  the  most  gorgeous  attire  of  rhetoric, 
and  calculated  only  to  make  an  impression  upon 
the  heart.      An  English  sermon  is,  or  rather  was 
until  of  late  years,  a  cold,  unimpassioned  applica- 
tion to  the  understanding  ;    abounding  with  solid 
reason  and  logical  argument,  but  seldom  attempt- 
ing to  warm  or  interest  the  passions  of  the  hearers. 
The  practice  appears  in  bodi  instimces   to  have 
preceded  the  theory  ;  but  the  French  system  first 
found  an  able  advocate  in  tlie  celebrated  Fenelon, 
archbishop  of  Cambray  ;    and  the  modem  Eng- 
lish writers  upon  rhetoric,  without  duly  consider- 
ing the  principal  cause  of  die  difference,  have  adopt- 
ed his  ideas,  and  yielded  perhaps  too  readily  tlie 
palm  of  victory  to  the  French  doctrine. 

The  cause  to  which  I  allude,  and  which  I  ap- 
prehend contributed  much  more  to  influence  the 
character  and  composition  of  English  sermons,  and 


LECT.  XIV.]  THE  PULPIT.  533 

to  mai-k  their  difference  from  those  of  the  French, 
than  the  mere  diversity  of  national  chai-acter,  to 
which  it  has  generally  been  ascribed,  is  no  other 
than  the  protestant  reformation.  In  France  and 
in  other  Roman  catholic  countries,  where  every 
point  of  doctrine  was  an  article  of  faith,  the  exclu- 
sion of  reasoning  from  the  desk  is  just  and  consist- 
ent. The  christian  is  not  allowed  to  be  a  reason- 
er ;  he  is  only  a  believer.  His  religious  opinions 
aie  given  him  not  for  examination  and  scrutiny, 
but  for  implicit  and  unhesitating  assent.  The  sa- 
cred scriptures  thcmsehes  are  held  to  be  myste- 
ries above  his  understanding,  and  his  creed  is  nev- 
er submitted  to  the  decision  of  his  judgment. 
The  French  doctrine  of  pulpit  oratory^  is  a  natural 
consequence  from  the  docti'ine  of  an  infallible 
church,  and  inseparably  connected  with  it.  Un- 
der such  a  church  there  can  be  no  occasion  for  ar- 
gumentative sermons,  and  reasoning  is  very  natur- 
ally expelled  from  their  pulpits.  But  the  protest- 
ant churches  profess  to  make  the  reason  of  every 
individual  the  umpire  of  his  faith.  They  admit 
no  infallible  rule  of  faith,  other  than  the  scriptures. 
The  assiduous  perusal  of  these  they  not  only  per- 
mit, but  enjoin  upon  all  their  followers ;  and  aban- 
don their  construction  afid-e^|>esition  to  his  o^vn 


334  ELOQUENCE   OF  [lECT.  XIV. 

judgment.  The  explanation  and  elucidation  of 
the  scriptures  thus  become  one  of  the  most  ar- 
duous and  important  duties  of  the  protestant 
preacher ;  a  duty,  which  he  can  discharge  only  by 
enlightening  tlie  understandings  of  his  people. 

In  order  to  test  the  correctness  of  this  French 
system  of  sermonizing,  and  to  show  that  it  is  adapt- 
ed only  to  the  practice  of  an  infallible  church,  let 
us  attend  only  to  those  classes  of  subjects  for  the 
disquisitions  of  the  pulpit,  which  are  among  the 
most  suitable  for  a  protestant  divine,  but  which 
become  useless  and  improper,  where  they  are 
prescribed,  as  undeniable  articles  of  faith. 

If  the  end  of  the  preacher's  discourse  is  the 
happiness  of  his  heai*ers  both  in  this  and  the  fu- 
ture life,  by  means  of  their  improvement  in 
knowledge  and  virtue,  that  portion  of  the  duty, 
which  consists  in  the  communication  of  knowl- 
edge, must  of  necessity  be  addressed  to  the  hearers' 
reason.  The  faith  of  the  protestant  layman  must 
often  depend  upon  the  degree  of  information, 
which  he  may  receive  from  his  religious  instruct- 
er.  The  existence  and  attributes  of  the  Deity, 
the  nature  and  innnortality  oi  the  soul,  the  doc- 
trine of  future  rewards  and  punishments,  the  evi- 
dences of  revealed  religion,  the  peculiar  character 


LECT.  XIV.]  THE  PULPIT.  335 

of  its  precepts,  a  comparison  of  its  system  of  mor- 
als with  those  of  the   Chinese,  Indian,    Persian, 
.Eg3'ptian,    Greek,   and   Arabian   legislators  and 
philosophers,  an  internal  comparison  between  the 
Mosaic  and  Christian  dispensations,  or  in  other 
words  between  the  principles  of  the  law  and  those 
of  the  gospel,  these  are  all  themes,  upon  which 
the  protestant  teacher  may  and  ought  freely  to  ex- 
patiate   for  the    improvement  of  his   hearers  in 
knowledge.      But  they  admit  of  no  discussion, 
where  the  preacher  himself  and  all  his  flock  are 
compelled  to  believe  whatever  has  been  j^rescrib- 
ed  to  them  on  these  all  important  questions,  and 
have  no  further  to  look  for  their  creed,  than  to  the 
decisions  of  tue  church.      A  Roman  catholic  be- 
lieves in  the  existence  of  a  God,  in  the  immortiili- 
ty  of  his  own  soul,  and  in  a  future  state  of  retribu- 
tion, because  the  holy  church  has  told  him  they  ai'c 
articles  of  faith.     But  he  is  not  allowed  to  ask  the 
reason  why.     A  protestant  is  told  to  believe  these 
fundamental  points  of  religion,  because  upon  ex- 
amination he  will  find  them  as  satisfactorily  prov- 
ed to  his  reason,  as  he  will  discover  them  to  be 
important  to  his  happiness.      Now  the  evidences 
of  these  primary  principles  are  not  obvious  to  eve- 
ry mind.     They  are  liable  to  numerous  and  plan- 


336  ELOQUENCE  OF     [lECT.  XIV 

silDle  objections.  Not  only  the  thoughtless  and 
the  profligate,  but  shallow  reasoners  and  philo- 
sophical dogmatists  dispute  and  deny  them.  The 
wolves  of  infidelity  are  prowling  around  every 
fold.  Surely  under  such  a  state  of  things  it  is  the 
duty  of  the  pastor  to  guard  his  flock  by  every 
kind  of  security.  It  is  as  much  his  duty  to  detect 
the  sophistical  semblance  of  reason,  as  to  repel  the 
impetuous  onset  of  the  passions. 

These  three  articles  form  the  basis  of  what  is 
called  natural  religion ;  and  the  belief  in  them 
does  not  always  imply  that  of  Christianity.  This 
is  barely  a  question  of  evidence,  which  in  this,  as 
in  all  other  objects  of  controversy,  is  partly  exter- 
nal and  partly  internal.  When  the  truth  of  tlie 
christian  revelation  is  contested,  it  becomes  the 
minister  of  the  gospel  not  only  to  be  able  to  give 
a  reason  for  the  faith  that  is  in  him,  but  to  furnish 
those  of  his  hearers,  less  qualified  to  search  into  the 
depths  of  such  inquiries,  with  a  reason  equally  sat- 
isfactory to  themselves. 

When  both  these  difficulties  at  the  threshold  of 
religious  persuasion  have  been  removed,  when 
the  atheist  and  the  deist  have  both  been  silenced, 
and  the  firm  belief  in  divine  revelation  is  estab- 
lished, then  the  volume  of  sacred  inspiration  is 


LECT.  XIV.]  THE  PULPIT.  337 

opened  before  the  preacher,  and  it  is  his  duty  to 
make  it  profitable  to  his  hearers  for  doctrine,  for 
reproof,  for  correction,  for  instruction  in  right- 
eousness. The  field  here  opened  to  the  protest- 
ant  divine  is  inexhaustible.  To  the  Roman  cath- 
olic preacher  it  is  never  opened  at  all.  For  with 
what  propriety  could  he  reason  to  his  audience 
from  a  book,  which  they  are  not  permitted  to 
read? 

In  making  these  observations  it  is  not  my  de- 
sign either  to  pass  a  censure  upon  any  prevailing 
system  of  Christianity,  or  to  question  the  correct- 
ness of  the  French  theory  of  pulpit  eloquence,  as 
adapted  to  the  church,  where  it  originated  ;  but 
to  caution  those  of  you,  who  may  hereafter  as- 
sume the  pastoral  ofHce,  against  the  implicit  adop- 
tion of  the  critical  creed  of  the  French  school, 
which  the  recent  English  theorists  have  too  much 
countenanced.  A  protestant  divine,  who  looks 
upon  his  pulpit  merely  as  a  chair  for  the  delivery 
of  moral  lectures,  or  a  stage  to  work  upon  the  pas- 
sions of  his  auditory,  as  at  a  theatrical  representa- 
tion, has  a  very  inadequate  idea  of  his  duties  and 
of  his  powers.  The  earnest  and  ardent  inculca- 
tion of  moral  duties  is  undoubtedly  one  of  the  es- 
sential obligations  of  the  preacher;  and  in  dis- 
43 


338  ELO(^UENCE  OF  [lECT.  XIV. 

charging  it  he  is  bound  to  lay  hold  of  every  hope 
and  every  fear,  that  can  influence  the  heart  of  man. 
But  to  enlighten  the  mind  is  one  of  the  most  ef- 
fectual means  of  amending  the  heart ;  and  the  so- 
cieties of  christians,  who  place  themselves  under 
the  ministration  of  a  spiritual  monitor,  have  a  right 
to  expect,  that  he  should  consider  and  treat  them 
as  rational,  no  less  than  as  sensitive  beings. 

Let  not  the  youthful  candidate  for  the  minis- 
try entertain  an  idea  too  contracted  of  the  functions, 
to  which  he  aspires.  Let  him  be  deeply  impress- 
ed with  the  principle,  that  his  task  in  the  pulpit 
will  be  to  enlighten  ignorance  and  to  refute  error, 
as  well  as  to  reclaim  from  vice  and  exhort  to  vir- 
tue. Let  him  not  consider  the  celebrated  French 
preachers  or  their  English  imitators,  as  furnishing 
the  only  proper  models  for  the  composition  of  a 
sermon.  By  enlarging  the  number  and  the  na- 
ture of  the  topics,  upon  which  he  shall  discourse, 
he  will  find  his  own  duties  more  easy  to  discharge, 
and  his  people  will  be  more  extensively  benefitted 
by  his  labors.  In  discussing  topics  of  doctrine  or 
of  controversy  the  more  ancient  writers  of  Eng- 
lish sermons  will  be  more  instructive  guides,  than 
those  of  recent  date.  From  the  frequency  of  the 
occasions  he  will  have  to  address  his  people,  he 


lECT.  XIV.]  THE  PULPIT.  339 

cannot  too  much  diversify  both  the  matter  and  the 
manner  of  his  discourses. 

In  adapting  the  subjects  of  his  sermons  to  the 
occasions  and  the  audience  the  preacher  must  be 
governed  by  circumstances  and  by  his  own  situa- 
tion. The  same  disquisition,  which  might  be  sea- 
sonable and  judicious  before  one  auditory,  would 
be  worse  than  useless  before  another.  Even  the 
discourses  of  the  moral  and  practical  class  ought 
to  be  diversified  according  to  the  time  and  place 
of  their  delivery.  There  are  certain  errors  and 
vices  more  congenial  to  one  state  of  society  than 
to  another.  The  inhabitants  of  populous  cities 
are  exposed  to  temptations  and  allured  by  oppor- 
tunities to  transgressions,  different  from  those  most 
incident  to  rural  and  sequestered  regions.  Diifer- 
ent  situations  in  life  are  prone  to  different  offences. 
The  rich  and  the  poor,  the  ignorant  and  the  learn- 
ed, the  ploughman  and  the  mariner,  the  aged  and 
the  young ;  each  is  addicted  to  the  sin,  which  most 
easily  besets  him,  from  which  the  others  are  more 
usually  exempt.  The  divine  is  in  some  degree  in  - 
vested  with  the  functions  of  the  censor  among  the 
ancient  Romans.  He  has  indeed  no  authorit}'  to 
punish  the  offender ;  but  it  is  his  right  and  his  du- 
ty to  reprove  the  offence. 


540  ELO(^UENCE  OF  [lECT.  XIV« 

From  the  imperfect  and  transient  view  of  pul- 
pit speaking,  wiiich  I  have  here  taken,  you  will 
perceive,  that  it  includes  witliin  itself  the  princi- 
ples of  iill  the  ancient  classes  of  oratory.  For  the 
discussion  ol  doctrines,  its  process  must  assume 
all  the  characters  of  judicial  investigation.  In 
manifesting  the  praise  of  the  Supreme  Creator,  or 
unfolding  the  loveliness  of  that  moral  virtue,  in 
Avhich  he  delights,  the  displays  of  demonstrative 
eloquence  can  be  limited  only  by  the  finite  powers 
of  the  human  imagination;  while  those  addresses 
to  the  heart,  which  exhort  to  the  practice  of  virtue^ 
and  urge  the  sinner  to  repentance,  are  niarked  with 
the  features  oi  deliberation. 

In  point  of  form  it  is  preciselj'  the  same,  as  the 
demonstrative  oration.  The  speaker  stands  alone, 
subject  to  no  contradiction,  and  in  undisputed 
possession  of  the  whole  field.  His  discourse  may 
be  extemporaneous,  or  previously  written,  at  his 
option.  The  practice  varies  among  different  de- 
nominations of  christians,  and  among  individuals 
of  the  same  denomination.  There  are  advantages 
and  inconveniences,  inherent  in  each  of  these 
modes  of  address  ;  and  the  preference  of  the  one 
to  the  other  ought  perhaps  to  be  decided  rather 
by  the  character  of  the  preacher's  talents,  than  by 


LECT.  XIV.]  THE   PULPIT.  341 

any  rule  of  uniformity.  There  is  a  force,  an  in- 
terest, an  energy,  in  extemporaneous  discourse, 
"  warm  from  the  soul  and  faithful  to  its  fires," 
which  no  degree  of  meditation  can  attain  or  sup- 
ply. But  the  stream,  which  flows  spontaneous,  is 
almost  always  shallow,  and  runs  forever  in  the 
same  channel.  The  talent  of  speaking  well  with- 
out preparation  is  rare,  and  that  of  uttering  fluent 
nonsense,  so  often  substituted  in  its  stead,  though 
far  from  being  uncommon,  is  not  so  well  adapted 
to  the  oratory  of  the  pulpit,  as  to  that  of  the  forum 
or  of  die  bai'.  Amidst  the  infinite  variety  of  human 
capacities  there  are  some,  vrhose  floods  of  elo- 
quence are  more  rich,  more  copious,  more  rapid, 
rushing  from  the  lofty  surface  of  unpremeditated 
thouglit,  than  drawn  from  the  deepest  fountains  of 
study.  But  the  productions  of  ordinary  minds  are 
improved  by  reflection,  and  brought  to  maturity 
by  labor.  The  preacher  should  endeavour  just- 
ly to  estimate  his  own  faculties,  and  according  to 
their  dictates  prepare  his  written  discourse,  or 
trust  to  the  inspiration  of  the  moment.  The  tal- 
ent of  extemporal  speaking  may  suffice  for  the  or- 
dinary duties  of  the  preacher,  but  the  sermon,  des- 
tined to  survive  its  hour  of  delivery,  must  always 
be  previously  written. 


LECTURE    XV. 


INTELLECTUAL  AND  MORAL  QUALITIES  OF  AN 
ORATOR. 


AT  an  early  period  of  this  course,  in  pointing 
out  the  several  sources  of  invention  it  was  observ- 
ed, that  they  were  to  be  derived,  first  from  the 
subject  of  the  discourse ;  secondly  from  the 
speaker;  and  thirdly  from  the  audience.  The 
materials  for  invention,  which  can  be  supplied  by 
the  subject,  have  been  now  fully  considered ;  as 
well  those,  which  belong  to  all  the  classes  of  ora- 
tory in  common,  as  those  more  distinctly  suitable 
to  the  demonstrative,  deliberative,  judicial,  or  pul- 
pit eloquence  apart.  It  is  now  time  to  fix  our  at- 
tention upon  the  speaker  himself,  and  to  inquire 
what  resources  for  the  success  of  his  cause  he 


544  (QUALITIES  OF  [lECT.    XV. 

may  be  enabled  to  derive  from  his  own  personal 
character  and  address. 

There  are  three  particulars  in  the  character  of 
an  orator,  which  may  naturally  and  essentially  af- 
fect the  success  of  his  eloquence.  They  ai*e  man- 
ifested by  the  qualities  of  the  heart,  the  endow- 
ments ot  the  understanding,  and  the  dispositions  of 
the  temper ;  of  which  I  propose  to  speak  succes- 
sively in  the  order  here  assigned  them,  according 
to  my  estimate  of  their  relative  importance. 

The  first  and  most  precious  quality  then, 
which  contributes  to  the  success  of  a  public  speak- 
er, is  an  honest  heart ;  a  sentiment  which  I  wish 
above  all  others  may  be  impressed  with  indelible 
force  upon  your  minds.  On  a  former  occasion  I 
freely  acknowledged  my  own  opinion,  that  the 
maxim,  upon  which  the  ancient  rhetoricians,  and 
especially  Quinctilian,  so  emphatically  insisted,  that 
none  but  an  honest  man  could  possibly  be  an  ora- 
tor, was  not  strictly  true.  That  from  a  laudable 
but  mistaken  intention  it  strained  too  far  the  pre- 
eminence of  virtue,  and  supposed  a  state  of  moral 
perfection  as  extant  in  the  world,  which  was  at 
best  but  imaginary.  The  position  in  so  broad  an 
extent  is  not  only  erroneous  in  itself,  but  danger- 
ous in  its  tendency.      For  if  no  other  than  a  good 


LECT.  XV.]  AN  ORATOR.  345 

man  can  possibly  be  a  great  orator,  the  converse 
of  the  proposition  must  be  also  true,  and  every 
great  orator  would  of  course  be  proved  an  honest 
man.  An  opinion  of  this  kind  mii^ht  be  pernicious 
to  )outh  and  inexperience.  It  is  incompatible 
with  the  uniform  constitution  of  human  nature,  and 
the  unvaried  tenor  of  human  history.  It  leads  to 
conclusions,  which  must  confound  the  distinctions 
between  fair  profession  and  honorable  action  ;  and 
makes  a  smooth  and  fluent  tongue  tlie  incontro- 
vertible test  of  moral  excellence. 

It  is  however  unquestionably  true,  that  in  form- 
ing  that  ideal  model  of  an  all-accomplished  orator, 
that  perfect  master  of  the  art,  which  a  fruitful  im- 
agination is  able  to  conceive,  die  first  quality, 
with  which  he  should  be  endowed,  is  uprightness 
of  heart.  In  mere  speculation  we  cannot 
separate  the  moral  cliaracter  from  the  oratoric- 
al power.  If  we  assume  as  a  given  point,  that  a 
man  is  deficient  in  the  score  of  integrity,  we  dis- 
card all  confidence  in  his  discourse,  and  all  benev- 
olence to  his  person.  We  contemn  his  argument 
as  sophistrv'.  Vv'e  detest  his  pathos  as  hypocrisy. 
If  the  powers  of  creation  could  be  delegated  to 
mortal  hands,  and  we  could  make  an  orator,  as  a 

>  sculptor  moulds  a  statue,  the  first  material   ^ve 
44 


346  (QUALITIES  OF  [lECT.  XV. 

should  employ  for  the  composition  would  be  in- 
tegrity of  heart.  The  reason  why  tliis  quality  be- 
comes so  essential  is,  that  it  forms  the  basis  of  the 
hearer's  confidence,  witliout  which  no  eloquence 
can  operate  upon  his  belief.  Now  if  the  profes- 
sion and  the  practice  of  virtue  were  always  found 
in  unison  with  each  other,  it  would  inevitably  fol- 
low, that  no  other  than  a  good  man  could  possess 
high  powers  of  oratory ;  but  as  tlie  world  is  con- 
stituted, the  reputation  of  integrity  will  answer  all 
die  purpose  of  inspiring  confidence,  which  could 
be  attained  by  the  virtue  itself. 

The  reputation  of  integrity  is  sometimes  en- 
joyed without  being  deserved,  and  sometimes  de- 
served without  being  enjoyed.  There  is  howev- 
er no  safer  maxim,  upon  which  a  young  man 
can  proceed  in  the  career  of  life,  than  that  the 
reputation  is  to  be  acquired  and  maintained  by  the 
practice  of  virtue. 

To  estimate  at  its  proper  value  the  importance 
to  a  public  speaker  of  an  irreproachable  character, 
consider  its  general  operation  upon  the  auditory  at 
the  several  scenes  of  public  oratory,  with  which 
we  are  conversant,  and  the  distinctive  characters  of 
which  have  been  delineated  in  my  preceding  lec- 
tures. 


LECT.  XV.]  AN  ORATOR.  347 

Our  demonstrative  orations  are  generally  de- 
livered upon  some  public  anniversar}%  or  before 
some  charitable  or  humane  society,  or  in  the  form 
of  funeral  eulogy.      Whether  as  the  vehicles  of 
persuasion  to  charity,  or  of  moral  or  political  sen- 
timent, or  of  fair  and  honorable  fame,  how  much 
more  forcible  and  impressive  must  be  the  words  of 
a  speaker  esteemed  and  respected  for  his  personal 
chai'acter,    than  of  one  degraded  in    reputation. 
To  influence  the  public  opinion  for  some  purpose 
of  public  benefit  is  the  great  end,  to  which  the  de- 
moiisti'ative  orator  should  always  endeavour  to  di- 
rect his  discourse.     This  he  will  seldom  find  difli- 
cult.     The  occasions,  upon  which  he  will  be  call- 
ed to  speak,  seldom  fail  to  furnish  him  the  oppor- 
tunity.    But  to  ensure  his  success  the  esteem  and 
confidence  of  his  hearers  will  contribute  more  than 
the  substance  of  his  discourse.  The  demonstrative 
orator  should  imagine  to  himself  what  truth  and 
virtue  and  honor  would  say,  could  they  appear  in 
person,  and  speak  with  a  human  voice.    What  they 
would  speak  is  precisely   what   he   should  say ; 
and  what  can  so  surely  fix  the  seal  upon  generous 
and  noble  sentiment,  as  the  universal  testimonial 
of  the  public  voice,  that  it  issued  from  a  noble  and 
a  generous  soul  ? 


348  QUALITIES  OF  [lECT.  XV. 

Still  more  important  is  a  pure  and  spotless 
reputation  for  integrity  to  die  general  success  of  a 
pleader  at  the  bar.     The  profession  of  the  law  re- 
quires a  life  the  more  scrupulously  pure,  for  be- 
ing more  than  perhaps  any  other  occupation  ex- 
posed to  temptations,  and  stimulated  by  opportu- 
nities of  departure  from  the  path  of  rectitude  ;  and 
for  being  far  more  than  any  other  obnoxious  to 
popuhu"  prejudices  and  suspicions.     But  although 
a  fair  character  will  certainly  promote  the  general 
success  of  an  advocate,  it  can  have  little  or  no  in- 
fluence upon  the  issue  of  any  particular   cause. 
Here  again  we   discover  different    consequences 
from  the  different  judicial  institutions  of  ancient 
and  modern  times.     One  of  the  reasons  most  ear- 
nestly urged  by  Quinctiiian,  in  recommending  to 
his  orator  integrity  of  character,  is,  that  it  may  en- 
able him  to  succeed  in  advocating  a  bad  cause. 
And  it  is  obvious  fi  om  the  whole  scope  of  his  ar- 
gument, and  from  that  of  Cicero  to  the  same  pur- 
pose, that  the  personal  character  of  the  advocate 
influenced  in  no  small  degree  the  fate  of  almost 
every  cause.     But  in  our  courts  of  law  it  is  the 
duty  and  the  practice  both  of  the  judges  and  the 
juries  to  separate  entirely  the  merits  of  the  cause 
from  those  of  its  advocate.      In  the  greater  part  of 


LECT.  XV.]  AN  ORATOR.  349 

our  criminal  trials  neither  the  prosecution  nor  the 
defence  is  conducted  by  men,  who  voluntarily 
assumed  the  office.  The  attorney  general  is 
bound  by  the  duties  of  his  station  to  conduct  be- 
fore the  courts  all  accusations,  preferred  by  the 
grand-jury  ;  and  although  there  are  certain  cases, 
in  which  he  may  proceed  by  way  of  information, 
that  is,  he  may  himself  commence  a  prosecution 
without  the  intervention  of  a  grand-jury,  yet  those 
cases  arc  rare,  and  of  little  comparative  importance. 
On  the  other  hand  our  laws  and  constitutions,  in 
that  spirit  of  humanity,  which  marks  all  their  reg- 
ulations of  criminal  process,  have  expressly  provid- 
ed that  all  persons,  charged  with  crimes,  shall 
have  the  benefit  of  counsel ;  and  it  is  generally 
made  the  duty  of  the  practitioners  at  our  bar  to  de- 
fend the  pai-ty,  who  applies  for  his  assistance.  In 
all  capital  cases,  if  the  prisoner  under  indictment  is 
unable  to  defray  the  expense  of  an  adequate  fee, 
the  judges  themselves  appoint  individual  members 
of  the  bar  to  manage  his  defence,  and  the  task, 
thus  imposed  upon  the  advocate,  he  is  bound  to 
assume  and  to  discharge  with  as  much  zeal  and 
fidelity  to  the  client  thus  allotted  him,  as  if  it  had 
been  the  effect  of  his  choice.  The  moral  charac- 
ter of  the  lawyer  can  therefore  have  not  the  weight 


350  (QUALITIES  or  [lECT.  XV. 

of  a  feather  upon  the  scales  of  justice  in  causes  of 
criminal  jurisdiction.  With  regard  to  civil  suits 
there  is  certainly  a  line  of  discrimination  strongly 
marked  between  the  general  practice  of  different 
men  in  extensive  business.  There  is  a  reputable 
and  a  disreputable  practice.  But  even  in  these 
cases  the  result  is  different  from  that  of  ancient 
times.  The  complexion  of  the  cause  is  often  re- 
flected upon  the  reputation  of  its  supporter,  but  re- 
ceives neither  light  nor  shade  from  it.  There 
are  causes,  which  a  man  of  moral  delicacy  never 
would  undertake ;  and  there  is  a  management  of 
causes,  when  undertaken,  which  a  person  solicit- 
ous for  his  own  reputation  never  would  adopt. 
Such  causes  and  such  a  mode  of  conducting  them 
are  consequently  found  in  the  hands  of  men  less 
scrupulous,  and  generally  settle  tlieir  reputation. 
But  even  in  their  hands  every  cause  stands,  as  it 
ought  to  stand,  upon  its  o\\'ti  merits,  and  is  sub- 
mitted to  no  criterion  of  decision,  other  than  the 
law. 

It  is  impossible  on  this  subject  to  precribe  any 
uniform  rule,  which  can  be  recommended  to  your 
observance.  It  is  neither  practicable  nor  necessa- 
ry for  a  lawj^er  to  pretend  in  the  course  of  his  pro- 
fessional practice  to  be  always  on  the  right  side. 


LECT.  XV.]  AN  ORATOR.  351 

A  great  proportion  of  causes,  litigated  in  tlic 
courts  of  civil  jurisdiction,  consist  of  questions, 
the  right  or  wrong  of  which  can  be  ascertained  on- 
ly by  the  decision  of  the  court.  To  insist  upon 
having  always  the  triumphant  side  of  the  cause 
would  be  to  abandon  the  character  of  an  advocate, 
and  to  arrogate  that  of  a  judge.  The  personal  in- 
tegrity of  the  lawyer  is  therefore  by  no  means  im- 
plicated in  the  failure  of  the  causes,  which  he  may 
support.  On  the  other  hand  there  are  sometimes 
cases,  in  which  the  operation  of  the  law  itself  is  so 
harsh,  so  unfeeling,  so  at  war  with  that  natural 
justice,  which  can  never  be  obliterated  from  the 
heart,  that  a  man  of  principle  would  refuse  his 
ministration  for  carrying  it  into  effect.  The  only 
advice  I  can  give  you  for  all  such  emergencies  is^ 
before  you  enter  upon  that  profession,  to  lay  the 
foundation  of  your  conduct  in  a  well  digested  sys- 
tem of  ethics;  to  make  yourselves  thoroughly 
acquainted  with  the  general  duties  of  the  man  and 
the  citizen  ;     to  form  for  yourselves  principles 

Beyond  the  fixed  and  settled  rules 
Of  vice  and  virtue  in  the  schools, 
Beyond  the  letter  of  the  law  ; 

and,  when  once  thus  well  grounded  in  the  theory 


252  (QUALITIES  OF  [lECT.  XV. 

of  your  moral  obligations,  you  may  safely  consult 
tlie  monitor  in  your  own  breasts  for  direction  upon 
every  special  occasion  of  difficulty,  which  may  af- 
terwai'ds  occur  in  your  intercourse  with  mankind. 
To  the  deliberative  orator  the  reputation  of 
unsullied  virtue  is  not  only  useful,  as   a  mean  of 
promoting  his  general  influence,  it  is  also  among 
his  most  efficient  engines  of  persuasion,  upon  eve- 
ry individual  occasion.      The  test  of  deliberation 
you  remember  is  utility.     Its  issue  is  some  mciis- 
ure  to  be  pursued  or  rejected.     The  purpose  of 
the  speaker  is  to  persuade  his  hearers  that  the  act, 
to  which  he  exhorts,  will  be  advantageous  to  them- 
selves ;  or,  if  the  discourse  is  held  before  a  repre- 
sentative body,  to  their  constituents.      It  is  obvi- 
ous then,  that  the  hearers  of  a  deliberative  speaker 
will  listen  to  liim  with  a  disposition  niuch  more 
favorable  to  the  adoption  of  his  opinions,  when 
they  have  an  unshaken  confidence  in  his  integrity, 
than  when  they  suspect  or  disbelieve  the  purity  of 
his  intentions. 

In  our  country  the  legislative  bodies  of  the 
state  or  of  the  union  are  the  assemblies,  in  which  all 
the  most  important  deliberative  discussions  are 
agitated.  Generally  speaking,  a  reputation  for  in- 
tegrity must  to  a  certain  degree  be  established,  be- 


LECT.  XV.]  AN  ORATOR.  353 

fore  a  citizen  can  obtain  a  seat  in  those  assemblies, 
and  enjoy  the  right  of  taking  a  part  in  their  de- 
bates. I  do  not  mean  to  say,  that  these  stations  are 
universally  or  exclusively  filled  by  men  of  exem- 
plary virtue,  or  even  of  fairflime.  There  always 
are  and  always  will  be  some  exceptions.  The 
places  are  all  elective,  and  all  granted  for  a  short 
space  of  time.  But  the  instances  of  polluted  char- 
acters ushered  into  the  halls  of  legislation  are  rare. 
An  election  by  popular  suffrage  to  a  place  of  trust 
and  honor  is  conclusive  proof,  that  the  person 
chosen  was  an  object  of  esteem  to  those,  by  whom 
he  was  elected.  If  not  always  decisive  evidence 
of  merit,  at  least  it  is  an  indication  of  good  repute. 
And  as  uprightness  of  character  is  the  most  effec- 
tual passport  to  a  seat  in  the  legislative  councils, 
so  is  it  the  most  certain  instrument  for  acquiring 
influence  in  them.  Without  it  the  most  brilliant 
eloquence  loses  half  its  lustre ;  with  it  every  fac- 
ulty of  speech  acquires  a  ten-fold  energy. 

To  the  worldly  orator  then  of  whatever  de- 
nomination, good  name  is  a  jewel  of  inestimable 
price.  But  to  the  preacher  of  the  gospel  it  is  the 
immediate  jewel  of  his  soul.  Not  that  there  is  any 
principle  of  religion  or  of  virtue,  binding  upon  a 

clergyman,  from  which  men  of  other  occupations 

45 


.354  q^lTALITIES  OF  [lECT.  XV. 

are  entitled  to  an  exemption.  Heaven  has  not 
prescribed  one  system  of  morality  for  the  priest- 
hood, and  another  for  the  people.  The  divine 
precepts  are  the  same  for  us  all ;  and  that,  which 
would  be  criminal  in  a  divine,  can  never  become 
innocent  in  a  layman.  Nevertheless  usages  of  so- 
ciety, and  the  general  opinions  of  mankind  apply 
a  more  rigorous  standard  of  piety  and  virtue  to 
the  duties  of  a  clergxman,  than  to  those  of  other 
men.  High  offences  partake  of  aggravated  enor- 
mity, when  committed  by  them ;  and  indulgen- 
cies,  deemed  innocent  in  the  ordinary  characters 
of  mankind,  become  transgressions  in  the  cloth. 
By  their  profession  they  are  teachers  of  religion 
and  virtue.  If  then  by  his  example  a  divine 
should  give  the  lie  to  his  own  instructions,  his 
guilt  is  complicated.  Besides  the  criminality, 
which  he  incurs  in  common  with  every  other  of- 
fender, he  commits  a  sort  of  moral  and  professional 
suicide.  He  destroys  all  possibility,  that  his  les- 
sons to  others  should  obtain  credit.  He  is  an 
apostate  from  the  cause,  to  which  he  has  pledged 
himself.  He  is  not  merely  a  worthless  man ;  he 
is  an  impostor  to  mankind,  and  a  traitor  to  his 
God.  1  his  character,  I  add  with  pleasure,  is  no 
less  rare,  than  it  is  odious.     There  is  no  class  of 


LECT.  XV.]  AN  ORATOR.  355 

men  in  society  so  generally  distinguished  for  pure 
morals  and  blameless  lives,  as  our  clergy.  For 
dignity  of  mind  and  decency  of  manners,  for  up- 
rightness of  conduct  and  delicacy  of  sentiment,  no 
other  profession  can  bear  a  comparison  with  the 
ministers  of  the  gospel  of  every  sect  and  denomina- 
tion. To  men  of  this  vocation  the  maxim  of 
Quinctilian  might  be  applied  in  its  utmost  extent. 
The  orator  of  heaven  must  be  a  saint  upon  earth. 

And  truths  divine  come  mended  from  his  tongue. 

Thus  then,  for  the  purpose  of  conciliating  the 
benevolence  of  the  auditory,  an  object  so  indis- 
pensable to  the  success  of  all  eloquence,  the  repu- 
tation of  integrity  appears  of  momentous  conse- 
quence to  tlie  orator  of  every  description.  But 
there  is  an  advantage,  which  genuine  integrity 
will  secure  to  the  speaker,  independent  of  the  falla- 
cious estimates  of  his  hearers,  which  no  baseless 
reputation  can  usurp,  and  no  delusive  prejudice 
can  destroy.  The  advantage  of  that  natural  alli- 
ance, which  always  subsists  between  honesty  and 
truth,  guided  by  that  spirit  of  truth,  which  is 
no  other  than  tlie  perception  of  things,  as  they 
exist  in  reality,  an  orator  will  never  use,  for 
he  will   never   need  any  species    of  deception. 


356  (QUALITIES  OF  [lECT.  XV. 

He  will  never  substitute  falsehood  for  fact,  nor 
sophistr}^  for  argument.  Ahvays  believing  him- 
self what  he  says,  he  will  possess  the  first  of  in- 
sti'uments  for  obtaining  the  belief  of  others.  Nor 
is  the  respect  for  trutii  in  a  fair  and  ingenuous 
mind  a  passive  or  inert  quality.  It  is  warm  with 
zeal.  It  never  suffers  carelessness  to  overlook, 
nor  indolence  to  slumber.  It  spurs  to  active  ex- 
ertion ;  it  prompts  to  industry,  to  perseverance,  to 
fortitude.  Integrity  of  heart  is  a  permanent  and 
ever  active  principle,  exercising  its  influence  over 
the  heait  throughout  life.  It  is  friendly  to  all  the 
energetic  virtues ;  to  temperance,  to  resolution,  to 
labor.  It  trims  the  midnight  lamp  in  pursuit  of 
that  general  knowledge,  which  alone  can  qualify  the 
orator  of  ages.  It  greets  the  rising  dawn  in  spe- 
cial application  to  the  cause,  for  which  its  exer- 
tions may  be  required.  Yet  more;  integrity  of 
heart  must  be  founded  upon  an  enlarged  and  en- 
lightened morality,  A  truly  ^'irtuous  orator  must 
have  an  accurate  knowledge  of  the  duties,  incident 
to  man  in  a  state  of  civil  society.  He  must  have 
formed  a  correct  estimate  of  good  and  evil ;  a 
moral  sense,  which  in  demonstrative  discourse 
will  direct  him  with  the  instantaneous  impulse  of 
intuition  to  the  true  sources  of  honor  and  shame ; 


LECT.  XV.]  AN  ORATOR.  357 

injudicial  controversy,  to  those  of  justice  ;  in  de- 
liberation, to  the  path  of  real  utility ;  in  the  pulpii, 
to  all  that  the  wisdom  of  man,  and  all  that  the  rev- 
elation of  heaven  have  imparted  of  light  for  the 
pursuit  of  temporal  or  eternal  felicity. 

Finally,  an  honest  heart  is  the  fountain  of  all 
irresistible  argument,  and  all  overpowering  senti- 
ment. Mankind  are  indeed  liable  to  be  occasion- 
ally led  astray  and  deluded  b}'  their  passions ;  but 
all  the  lasting  sympathies  of  the  human  soul  an- 
with  virtue.  So  true  is  this,  that  the  most  aban- 
doned instigators  to  criminal  acts  are  ever  solicit- 
ous to  varnish  over  their  purposes  with  some  plau- 
sible pretext;  and  the  prtnce  of  darkness  holds 
forth  temptation  in  the  garb  and  image  of  an  an- 
gel of  light. 

But  integrity  of  heart,  although  die  first,  is  not 
the  only  essential  qualification  for  the  eminence  of 
a  pul^lic  speaker ;  nor  is  it  a  distinction  more  pe- 
culiai'ly  adapted  to  his  profession,  than  to  all  oUi- 
ers.  It  forms  a  general  duty,  obligatory  alike  up- 
on all,  though  I  have  here  considered  it  only,  as  it 
operates  upon  the  oratorical  character.  The  en- 
dowments of  the  mind  are  the  next  higredients  in 
the  composition  of  a  public  speaker  ;  and  though 
subordinate  to  that  all-surrounding  orb  of  moral 


558  QUALITIES  OF  ^LECT.  XV. 

principle,  they  are  equally  indispensable  to  the  har- 
mony of  the  system. 

The  faculties  of  the  mind  are  either  natural  or 
acquired.  There  is  no  occupation  among  men, 
excepting  the  exercise  of  the  military  art,  which 
affords  so  wide  a  scope  for  the  operations  of  gen- 
ius, as  the  practice  of  oratorj-.  So  far  however  as 
genius  is  the  gift  of  nature,  it  cannot  be  a  subject 
of  much  useful  discussion.  It  is  a  property  nei- 
ther to  be  suppressed  where  it  exists,  nor  given 
where  it  is  not.  The  natural  endowments  howev- 
er, which  are  indispensable  for  a  distinguished  ora- 
tor, are  not  of  that  rare  and  extraordinary  kind, 
which  that  common  mother  bestows  only  upon  a 
darling  of  twenty  centuries.  Fluency  of  speech, 
strength  of  lungs,  and  boldness  of  heart,  these  ap- 
pear to  be  the  only  natural  gifts,  which  an  orator 
can  require,  exce-.ting  the  pf)wers  of  invention. 
But  the  attribute,  which  of  all  others  exclusively 
beai's  the  mark  of  genius,  is  the  power  of  over- 
coming obstacles ;  and  in  the  history  of  Demos- 
thenes it  seems  as  if  nature  had  pui  posely  denied 
him  all  those  physical  powers,  for  the  express  pur- 
pose of  exhibiting  the  triumph  of  genius  over  na- 
ture. The  sublimest  of  human  orators  became 
such  in  despite  of  an  impediment  in  his  speech,  of 


LECT.  XV.]  AN  ORATOR.  359 

feeble  lungs,  and  of  the  timidity,  which  dreads  the 
sound  of  its  own  voice  before  an  assembled  multi- 
tude. The  example  of  Demosthenes  can  be 
safely  recommended  however  only  to  those,  who 
have  not  to  struggle  with  the  same  difficulties. 
Let  the  youth  more  liberally  provided  with  the 
physical  organs  of  speech,  whose  ambition  points 
him  to  the  paths  of  oratorical  fame,  let  him  re- 
member, that  the  same  indefatigable  assiduity,  the 
same  inflexible  perseverance,  and  the  same  inven- 
tive ingenuity,  which  enabled  Demosthenes  to  dis- 
arm the  very  rigors  of  nature,  are  the  weapons, 
with  which  he  must  learn  to  improve  her  favors. 

It  will  not  be  necessary  for  me  to  dwell  with 
tedious  earnestness  upon  the  importance  to  the 
orator  of  those  faculties,  which  his  own  industry 
can  acquire.  The  rhetorical  dialogues  of  Cicero 
and  the  institutes  of  Quinctilian  are  so  ample  and 
so  compreliensive  on  this  article,  that  the  most 
elaborate  discourse  I  could  frame  to  the  same  pur- 
pose would  in  substance  consist  of  nothing  but  of 
repetitions  from  them.  It  were  easy  to  transcribe, 
and  perhaps  impossible  to  add  to  the  weight  of 
dieir  opinions,  or  to  the  energy  of  their  instructions. 
If  it  were  possible  to  suppose  any  of  you  seriously 
doubtful,  and  inclining  to  the  belief,  that  shallow 


360  (QUALITIES  OF  [lECT.  XV. 

draughts  of  learning  suffice  for  the  purposes  of 
oratory,  there  would  be  reason  to  apprehend,  that 
on  such  a  mind  neither  Cicero  nor  Quinctilian 
could  make  much  impression.  As  students  at 
tliis  place,  I  cannot  imagine  the  use  of  an  argument 
to  recommend  to  you  the  pursuit  of  knowledge. 
It  is  the  purpose,  for  which  you  are  here,  and  a 
dissertation  to  convince  you  of  the  benefits  of 
learning  would  be  like  a  medical  treatise  to  prove 
that  food  is  conducive  to  health,  and  that  respira- 
tion is  one  of  the  luxuries  of  life.  There  is  how- 
ever one  observation,  which  may  perhaps  not  be 
so  obvious  to  all.  An  university  by  its  name  im- 
ports a  seminary,  where  youth  is  initiated  in  all 
tlie  sciences;  and  it  is  an  idea  too  flattering  to  indo- 
lence and  vanity  not  to  have  many  believers,  that 
all  the  knowledge  of  the  sciences,  which  can  be  of 
use  in  the  common  affairs  of  life,  is  to  be  acquired 
at  the  university.  According  to  this  estimate  of 
things  a  liberal  education  means  no  more,  than  the 
acquisition  of  a  degree ;  and  the  pursuit  of  the 
sciences  here  taught  is  regularly  laid  aside  with 
the  square  cap  and  the  collegiate  gown.  But  the 
practice  upon  this  doctrine  will  never  make  an  ac- 
complished orator.  The  student,  who  aspires  to 
the  attainment  of  that  proud  eminence,  must  con- 


lECT.  XV.]  AN  ORATOR.  36l 

sider  himself  as  able  to  acquire  here  nothing  more, 
than  the  elements  of  useful  knowledge,  a  mere  in- 
troduction to  the  porches  of  science.  These 
fountains  of  the  muses  are  destined  not  to  quench 
but  to  provoke  his  thirst.  Here  he  can  onl}^  learn 
to  be  his  own  teacher  hereafter. 

But  to  say  that  the  orator  must  be  a  man  of 
universal  knowledge  is  to  speak  in  terms  too  gen- 
eral for  practical  utility.  The  objects  of  human 
learning  are  so  multifarious,  and  its  several  branch- 
es are  so  complicated,  that  no  human  wit  or  indus- 
try can  be  adequate  to  a  mastery  equally  minute 
over  the  whole.  The  comparative  importance 
and  value  of  the  various  classes  and  kinds  of 
knowledge  is  worthy  of  your  most  deliberate  in- 
quiry ;  tiiat  no  precious  time  may  be  wasted  upon 
unprofitable  researches,  and  that  no  hasty  conclu- 
sion may  discard  studies,  adapted  to  useful  pur- 
poses. 

The  professional  studies,  which  succeed  the 
termination  of  your  academical  education,  will  be 
different,  as  your  choice  may  lead  you  to  the  min- 
istry of  the  gospel,  or  to  the  practice  of  the  bar. 
To  enlarge  upon  these  would  lead  me  into  a  field 
too  extensive  for  the  present  occasion,  and  would 

anticipate  subjects,  which  may  more  properly  be 
46 


362  (QUALITIES  OF  [lECT.  XV. 

presented  to  your  consideration  hereafter.  The 
materials,  upon  which  the  mind  of  a  deliberative 
orator  is  called  to  fix  a  special  attention,  are  still 
more  various  and  extensiv-e  ;  and  the  period,  at 
which  they  may  become  necessary  to  be  investi- 
gated by  you,  still  more  remote.  But  as  art  is 
long  and  life  short,  there  is  no  precept,  which  I 
can  more  earnestly  recommend  to  you,  than  that 
of  exercising  your  own  understandings  upon  all 
the  knowledge  you  acquire.  Endeavour  to  meth- 
odise your  studies.  Habituate  yourselves  to  re- 
flect upon  what  you  read  and  what  you  hear.  Let 
the  streams  of  knowledge  never  stagnate  upon 
your  souls.  Learning  in  the  head  of  indolence  is 
like  the  sword  of  a  hero  in  the  hand  of  a  coward. 
The  credit  and  the  usefulness  of  a  merchant  de- 
pends at  least  as  much  upon  the  employment,  as 
upon  the  extent  of  his  capital.  The  reputation  erf 
learning  is  no  better,  than  that  of  a  pedantic  trifler, 
unless  accompanied  with  the  talent  of  making  that 
learning  useful  to  its  possessor  and  to  mankind. 

With  this  talent  the  orator  must  also  be  gov- 
erned by  a  corresponding  disposition.  And  the 
disposition,  manifested  by  the  temper  of  the  speak- 
er, was  the  third  and  last  of  the  projr-erties,  which  I 
have  deemed  important,  as  affecting  the  merits  of 


LECT.  XV.]  AN  ORATOR.  363 

the  oratorical  character.  The  temper  of  the 
speaker  operates  in  a  twofold  manner;  like  the 
reputation  of  integrity,  it  influences  the  affections 
of  the  auditory ;  and  like  integrity  itself,  it  modi- 
fies his  management  of  every  subject.  The  qual- 
ities, which  operate  most  powerfully  upon  the 
hearers,  are  benevolence,  modesty,  and  confi- 
dence. That,  which  affects  the  ti'eatment  of  the 
subject,  may  be  comprised  in  the  single  term 
self-command.  Benevolence  is  not  merely  the 
first  of  moral  and  christian  virtues,  it  is  the  most 
captivating  of  all  human  qualities ;  for  it  recom- 
mends itself  to  the  selfish  passions  of  every  indi- 
vidual. Benevolence  is  a  disposition  of  the  heart, 
universal  in  its  nature  ;  and  every  single  hearer 
imagines  that  temper  to  be  kindly  affected  towards 
himself,  which  is  known  to  be  actuated  by  good 
will  to  all.  It  is  the  general  impulse  of  human 
nature  to  return  kindness  widi  kindness,  and  the 
speaker,  whose  auditor}^  at  the  instant  of  his  first 
address  believe  him  inspired  with  a  warm  benevo- 
lence for  them,  has  already  more  than  half  obtained 
his  end.  Modesty  is  a  kindred  virtue  to  benevo- 
lence, and  possesses  a  similar  charm  over  the  hearts 
of  men.  Modesty  always  obtains  the  more,  precise- 
ly because  it  asks  nothing.      Modesty  lulls  all  the 


o 


64  (QUALITIES  OF  (^LECT.  XV. 

iiTitable  passions  to  sleep.  It  often  disarms,  and 
scarcely  ever  provokes  opposition.  These  quali- 
ties arc  so  congenial  to  the  best  feelings  of  man- 
kind, that  they  can  never  be  too  assiduously  culti- 
vated. In  them  there  is  no  counteraction.  If 
they  do  not  always  succeed,  they  never  totally  fail. 
They  neutralize  malice  ;  they  baffle  envy  ;  they 
relax  the  very  brow  of  hatred,  and  soften  the  fea- 
tures of  scorn  into  a  smile.  But  the  purest  of  vir- 
tues border  upon  pernicious  failings.  Let  your 
benevolence  never  degenerate  into  weakness,  nor 
your  modesty  into  bashfulness.  A  decent  confi- 
dence is  among  the  most  indispensable  qualifica- 
tions of  an  accomplished  orator.  Arrogance  stim- 
ulates resentment ;  vanity  opens  to  derision ;  but 
a  mild  and  determined  intrepidity,  unabashed  by 
fear,  unintimidated  by  the  noise  and  turbulence  of 
a  popular  assembly,  unawed  by  the  rank  or  digni- 
ty of  an  auditory,  must  be  acquired  by  every  pub- 
lic speaker  aspiring  to  high  distinction.  It  is  as 
necessary  to  command  the  respect,  as  to  conciliate 
the  kindness  of  your  hearers. 

This  decent  and  respectful  confidence  is  but  a 
natural  result  of  that  perfect  and  unalterable  self 
command,  which,  though  last,  is  far,  very  far  from 
being  the  least  ingredient  in  the  composition  of  an 


LECT.  XV.]  AK  ORATOR.  365 

accomplished  orator.  If  it  be  true  of  mankind  in 
general,  that  he  who  ruleth  his  spirit  is  greater 
than  he  that  taketh  a  cit}'^,  to  no  description  of  hu- 
man beings  can  this  preeminence  of  self  dominion 
be  so  emphatically  ascribed,  as  to  the  public  speak- 
er. Let  no  man  presume  to  bespeak  an  ascenden- 
cy over  the  passions  of  others,  until  he  has  acquir- 
ed an  unquestioned  mastery  over  his  own.  Let 
no  man  daie  to  undertake  the  guidance  of  reason 
in  others,  while  he  suffers  anger  or  vanity,  the  over- 
flowings of  an  inflated  or  an  irritated  mind,  to  in- 
termingle with  the  tide  of  his  eloquence.  When 
the  ebullitions  of  passion  burst  in  peevish  crimin- 
ation of  the  audience  themselves,  when  a  speaker 
sallies  forth,  armed  with  insult  and  outrage  for  his 
instruments  of  persuasion,  you  may  be  assured, 
that  this  Quixotism  of  rhetoric  must  eventually 
terminate  like  all  other  modern  knight  errantry 
and  that  the  fury  must  always  be  succeeded  by 
the  impotence  of  the  passions. 


i 


LECTURE  XVI. 


EXCITATION    AND    MANAGEMENT  OF  THE  PASSIONS. 


IN  delineating  the  qualities  of  the  heart,  of  the 
understanding,  and  of  the  temper,  which  must 
combine  to  constitute  an  orator  worthy  of  a  sta- 
tion in  the  memory  of  ages,  I  reserved,  as  the  clos- 
ing and  highly  impoitant  consideration,  the  neces- 
sity, that  he  should  possess  a  steady  and  unvary- 
ing command  over  his  own  passions.  The  course 
of  my  subject  naturally  leads  me  next  to  inquire 
how  far  and  by  what  means  he  will  find  it  expedi- 
ent to  exercise  an  influence  over  those  of  his  hear- 
ers. 

The  rhetorical  theories  of  this  age  must  differ 
very  materially  from  those  of  ancient  times  on 
this  part  of  the  science.      Among  them  the  man- 


368  MANAGEMENT  OF        [lECT.  XVI. 

agement  of  the  passions  was  considered  as  includ- 
ing almost  the  whole  art  of  oratory.  Each  of  the 
three  great  writers,  who  have  hitherto  been  our  in- 
stmcters,  appears  to  consider  this  as  by  far  the 
most  arduous  task,  and  the  most  effectual  power 
of  a  public  speaker ;  and  each  of  them  has  treated 
it  in  his  peculiar  chai^acteristic  manner.  One  en- 
tire book  of  the  three,  which  contain  the  rhetorical 
system  of  Aristotle,  is  devoted  to  the  passions. 
He  selects  from  the  Avhole  mass  of  habits  and  af- 
fections, which  hold  dominion  over  the  hearts  of 
men,  a  certain  number,  which  he  comprises  un- 
der the  general  denomination  of  oratorical  passions, 
or  passions  which  are  peculiarly  susceptible  of 
being  operated  upon  by  a  public  speaker.  To 
each  of  these  he  allots  a  distinct  chapter,  in  which 
he  successively  analyzes  the  passion  itself,  the 
classes  of  men,  who  are  most  liable  to  be  stimulat- 
ed by  it,  and  the  manner  in  which  it  may  be  excit- 
ed. This  book  is  one  of  the  profoundest  and 
most  ingenious  treatises  upon  human  nature, 
that  ever  issued  from  the  pen  of  man.  It  search- 
es the  issues  of  the  heart  with  a  keenness  of  pene- 
tration, which  nothing  can  surpass,  unless  it  be  its 
severity.  There  is  nothing  satirical  in  his  manner, 
and  his  obvious  intention  is  merely  as  an  artist  to 


LECT.  XVI.]  THE  PASSIONS.  369 

expose  the  mechanism  of  man  ;  to  discover  the 
moral  nerves  and  sinews,  which  are  the  pcciiUar 
organs  of  sensation ;  to  dissect  the  internal  struc- 
ture, and  expose  the  most  hidden  chambers  of  the 
tenement  to  our  view.  Cicero  insists  also  much 
upon  the  management  of  the  passions.  Not  by 
anatomizing  the  passions  themselves,  but  by 
showing  how  they  are  to  be  handled.  His  exam- 
ple is  followed  by  Quinctilian,  whose  sentiments 
on  this  chapter  it  may  be  proper  to  cite,  as  explain- 
ed by  himself,  in  order  to  mark  distinctly  how  far 
they  can  be  applicable  to  present  times. 

"  There  is,"  says  he,  "  perhaps  nothing  so  im- 
portant as  this  in  the  whole  art  of  oratory.  An 
inferior  genius,  with  the  aid  of  instruction  and  ex- 
perience, may  succeed,  and  appear  to  great  advan- 
tage in  all  the  other  parts.  You  can  easily  find 
men  able  to  invent  arguments  and  proofs,  and  even 
to  link  them  together  in  a  chain  of  deduction. 
These  men  are  not  to  be  despised.  They  are 
well  qualified  to  inform  the  judges  ;  to  give  them 
a  perfect  insight  into  the  cause ;  nay  to  be  die  pat- 
terns and  teachers  of  all  your  learned  orators. 
But  the  talent  of  delighting,  of  overpowering  the 
judge  himself,  of  ruling  at  pleasure  his  very  vvill, 

of  inflaming  him  with  anger,  of  melting  him  to 
*     47  '  • 


370  MANAGEMENT  OF         [lECT.  XVI, 

tears,  that  is  the  rare  endowment  indeed.  Yet 
therein  consists  the  tiue  doniinion  of  the  orator; 
therein  consists  the  empire  of  eloquence  over  the 
heart.  As  for  arguments,  they  generally  proceed 
from  the  bosom  of  the  cause  itself,  and  are  always 
the  strongest  on  the  right  side.  To  obtain  the 
victory  by  means  of  them  is  merely  the  success  of 
a  common  lawyer;  but  to  sway  the  judge  in  spite 
of  himself,  to  divert  his  observation  from  the  truth, 
when  it  is  unpropitious  to  our  cause,  this  is  the 
real  triumph  of  an  orator.  This  is  what  you  nev- 
er can  learn  from  the  parties ;  what  none  of  their 
documents  will  ever  contain.  The  proofs  and  the 
reasonings  serve  indeed  to  convince  the  judge, 
that  our  cause  is  the  best.  But  by  means  of  his 
passions  he  is  made  to  wish  it  such ;  and  he  will 
soon  believe  what  he  once  wishes.  No  sooner 
does  he  begin  to  catch  our  passions  and  to  share 
in  our  hatreds  and  friendships,  indignations  and 
fears,  than  he  makes  our  cause  his  own.  And  as 
lovers  are  ill  qualified  to  judge  of  beauty,  because 
blinded  by  their  passion,  in  like  manner  the 
judge,  amidst  his  perturbation,  loses  the  discern- 
ment of  truth.  The  torrent  hurries  him  along, 
imd  he  gives  himself  up  to  its  violence.  Nothing 
but  the  sentence  itself  can  indicate  the  effect  of  the 


LECT.  XVI.]  THE  PASSIONS.  371 

arguments  and  witnesses  upon  his  mind.  But  if 
he  warmly  feels  the  passions  excited  in  him,  you 
can  easily  discover  his  sentence  before  he  leaves 
the  bench ;  nay  without  his  rising  from  it.  When 
he  bursts  into  tears,  as  scmietimes  happens  at  those 
admirable  perorations,  which  must  move  the  hard- 
est of  hearts,  is  not  the  decree  already  pronounc- 
ed ?  Let  the  orator  then  direct  all  his  exertions 
to  this  point ;  let  him  fasten  most  obstinately  up- 
on it,  without  which  every  thing  else  is  slender, 
feeble,  and  ungracious.  So  true  it  is,  that  the 
strength  and  the  soul  of  a  pleader's  discourse  cen- 
tres in  the  passions." 

Let  us  here  remark,  that  in  this  passage, 
which  contains  the  whole  substance  of  the  ancient 
doctrine  respecting  the  excitation  and  manage- 
ment of  the  passions,  Quinctilian  ai)plies  his  ob- 
servations exclusively  to  judicial  eloquence.  The 
ends,  for  which  these  energetic  machines  are  to  be 
worked,  have  no  relation  to  demonstrative  dis- 
courses. There  is  no  judge  to  be  deceived,  no 
sentence  to  be  fiilsified.  The  ideas  apply  only  by 
a  weak  and  imperfect  analogy  to  deliberative  elo- 
quence ;  and  indeed  it  was  a  received  maxim 
among  all  the  rhetoricians,  that  the  great  field  for 
operating  upon  the  passions  was  at  the  bar.     In 


372  MANAGEMENT  OF         [lECT.  XVI. 

my  lectures  on  the  subject  of  judicial  oratory,  I 
have  already  shown,  as  a  consequence  of  our  ju- 
dicial institutions  and  principles,  that  the  means  of 
influencing  the  issue  of  a  cause,  by  the  passions  of 
the  hearers,  are  less  at  the  bar,  than  in  any  otjjjer 
form  of  public  speaking.  Our  judges  are  sworn 
to  administer  justice  according  to  law.  Our  ju- 
ries are  under  oaths  equally  solemn  to  give  tlieir 
verdicts  according  to  the  evidence  ;  and  even  the 
attornies  and  counsellors,  practising  in  all  the 
courts,  are  under  like  engagement  to  do  no  wrong, 
and  to  suffer  none  knowingly  to  be  committed. 
That,  which  Quinctilian  tells  us  to  be  the  most 
splended  triumph  of  the  art,  would  therefore  now 
be  a  high  misdemeanor;  and  the  judge,  who  should 
suffer  his  sentence  to  be  diverted  from  the  truth, 
and  should  join  in  the  hatreds  or  friendships  of  one 
party  against  another,  ^vould  soon  get  himself  re- 
moved by  impeachment. 

This  is  perhaps  one  of  the  principal  causes  of 
the  superiority,  enjoyed  by  ancient  over  modern 
eloquence.  It  manifests  a  great  improvement  in 
the  condition  of  society.  When  we  see  Quinctil- 
ian speaking  contemptuously  of  arguments,  be- 
cause they  are  always  strongest  on  the  right  side, 
\T?hat  must  we  think  of  their  administration  of  the 


LECT.  XVI.]  THE  PASSIONS.  373 

laws  ?  If  the  modern  courts  have  lost  on  the  side 
of  eloquence,  they  have  gained  on  the  side  of  jus- 
tice ;  and  if  our  orritors  have  less  brilliancy,  our 
judges  liave  more  solidity. 

The  cliristian  system  of  morality  has  likewise 
produced  an  important  modification  of  the  princi- 
ples respecting  tlie  use  of  the  passions.  In  the 
passage,  above  quoted  from  Quinctilian,  no  dis- 
tinction is  made  between  the  kindly  and  the  ma- 
levolent passions.  Neither  does  Aristotle  inti- 
mate such  a  distinction.  ?^nvy,  hatred,  malice, 
and  indignation,  are  recommended  to  be  roused,  as 
well  as  love,  kindness,  and  good  will.  The  chris- 
tian morality  has  commanded  us  to  suppress  the 
angry  and  turbulent  passions  in  ourselves,  and  for- 
bids us  to  stimulate  them  in  others.  This  pre- 
cept, like  many  others  proceeding  from  the  same 
source,  is  elevated  so  far  above  the  ordinary  level 
of  human  virtue,  that  it  is  not  always  faithfully 
obeyed.  But  aldiough  perhaps  not  completely 
victorious  over  any  one  human  heart,  the  command 
to  abstain  from  malice  and  env}' ,  and  all  the  rancor- 
ous passions,  has  effected  a  general  refinement  of 
manners  among  men.  Is  there  a  rhetorician  of 
modern  ages,  who  would  dare  utter,  as  a  precept 
to  his  pupils,  instructions  how  to  debauch  the  un- 


374  MANAGEMENT  0¥         [lECT.  XVI. 

derstanding  of  a  judge,  through  the  medium  of 
his  pasbions  ?  lb  there  a  teacher,  who  would  have 
the  courage  to  search  out  the  most  venomous  re- 
gions of  the  human  heart,  to  instruct  his  scholars 
how  to  feed  them  witli  congenial  poison  ?  Doc- 
trines like  these  could  only  suit  the  times,  when 
the  rule  of  morality  was  "  thou  shall  love  thy 
neighbour  and  hate  thine  enemy."  They  must 
be,  and  tliey  are  universally  exploded  from  the 
lessons  of  those,  who  have  been  commanded  to 
love  their  enemies;  to  return  blessings  for  curses, 
prayers  for  persecution,  and  good  for  evil.  Would 
to  heaven,  that  tliey  were  as  universally  abandoned 
in  practice.  Of  this  there  is  but  too  much  still 
remaining.  It  is  too  easily  learned  and  too  fre- 
quently employed,  for  the  worst  of  purposes.  In- 
stead of  recommending  it  to  your  use,  I  cannot 
too  earnestly  warn  you  against  its  adoption. 

Addresses  to"  the  malevolent  passions  are  not 
necessary  for  the  highest  efforts  of  eloquence.  To 
convince  yourselves  of  this  truth,  compare  the  or- 
atorical compositions  of  Burke  with  the  letters  of 
Junius.  They  have  been  sometimes  ascribed  to 
the  same  author,  and  there  are  many  particulars, 
in  which  tlie  resemblance  between  them  is  re- 
markable.     They  are  both  writers  of  ardent  pas- 


LECT.  XVI.]  THE  PASSIONS.  375 

sion  and  high  vehemence.  But  in  regard  to  the 
motives  and  feelings,  which  they  strive  to  excite, 
they  differ  as  widely  as  possible.  Burke  was  up- 
on principle  and  conviction  a  christian.  He  had 
examined  its  evidences,  and  compared  its  moral 
system  with  every  other  known  theory  of  ethics. 
The  result  of  his  investigation  was  a  conviction  of 
the  truth  of  Christianity,  and  its  laws  of  general  be- 
nevolence and  charity  appear  in  every  page  of  his 
writings.  The  blaze  of  passion,  the  bolt  of  indig- 
nation, flash  with  incessant  energy  from  his  con- 
troversial speeches  and  publications;  but  die  tone 
and  character  of  his  sentiment  is  invariably  gener- 
ous and  benevolent.  All  his  maxims  of  wisdom, 
all  his  remarks  upon  life  and  manners,  beam  with 
humanity,  with  good  will  to  men.  Junius  was 
probably  infected  with  the  shallow  infidelity  of  tlie 
French  encyclopedists.  He  seldom  suffers  an  op- 
portunity for  a  sarcasm  upon  religion  to  escape 
him ;  and  he  always  speaks  of  piet}'  with  a  sneer,  as 
if  it  conveyed  to  his  mind  no  image,  other  than 
that  of  hypocrisy.  Yet  he  dares  not  avow  his  infi- 
delity ;  and,  when  directly  charged  with  it,  shuf- 
fles with  the  dexterity  of  a  rope  dancer,  and  cavils 
with  the  subtlety  of  a  sophist  to  disclaim  an  of- 
fence, which  at  the  same  moment  he  repeats,      h 


376  MANAGEMENT  OF         [lECT.  XVI. 

is  obvious  from  the  general  tenor  of  his  letters, 
that  christian  principles  were  as  foreign  from  lus 
heart,  as  christian  doctrines  from  his  understand- 
ing. His  eloquence  is  unshackled  by  any  re- 
straint of  tenderness  for  his  species.  He  flatters 
the  foulest  prejudices.  He  panders  for  the  basest 
passions.  Anger,  hatred,  and  envy,  are  the  choic- 
est instruments  of  his  oratory.  There  is  scarcely 
a  sentiment,  calculated  to  warm  the  hearts  of  his 
readers  with  kindness  to  their  fellow  creatures,  in 
the  whole  collection.  The  tender,  aftectionatc 
feelings  nevei-  inspire  him  with  a  thought ;  and, 
whenever  an  idea  of  patriotism  or  pliilanthropy 
crosses  his  mind,  his  principal  address  consists  in 
pointing  it  with  individual  malignity. 

The  vindictive  and  envious  passions  being 
excluded  from  the  ways  and  means  of  our 
eloquence  by  the  duties  of  our  religion,  and  all 
the  passions  being  so  much  discountenanced  in 
our  judicial  courts,  it  is  an  obvious  inference,  that 
this  particular  department  of  the  art  has  lost  some 
of  its  relative  importance.  There  are  still  howev- 
er occasions,  in  every  class  of  public  speaking, 
when  the  orator  may  obtain  his  end  by  operating 
upon  the  passions  of  his  liearers,  and  success  ob- 
tained by  these  instruments  is  still  the  most  diffi- 


i 


LECT.  XVI.]  THE  PASSIONS.  377 

cult  achievement  and  the  most  splendid  triumph 
of  the  art.  It  is  however  an  instrument,  which 
requires  the  management  of  a  skilful  hand,  and 
which,  to  retain  its  efficacy,  must  be  very  rarely 
employed. 

Under  the  general  denomination  of  passions  we 
include  two  distinct  classes  of  sentiments  or  im- 
pulsions, which  by  the  ancient  Greeks  were  dis- 
tinguished by  the  names  of  %u^og  and  vi'^cg.  The 
terms  in  our  language  most  nearly  corresponding 
with  these  are  passions  and  habits  ;  in  the  sense 
which  we  apply  to  this  latter  word,  when  we  say 
that  habit  is  a  second  nature.  By  the  passions 
they  understood  the  keen  and  forceful  affections  of 
the  mind.  By  the  liabits  they  meant  the  mild  and 
orderly  emotions.  The  passions  were  tumultuous 
agitations ;  the  habits  quiet  and  peaceable  im- 
pulses. The  first  were  more  adapted  to  control ; 
the  last  to  attract.  Generally  speaking  the  \vords 
marked  a  difference  in  duration,  as  well  as  in  de^ 
gree.  The  passions  were  momentary,  the  hab- 
its constant ;  the  former  an  occasional,  the  latter*^ 
a  permanent  influence.  The  passions  are  the 
tides  of  the  ocean,  ebbing  and  flowing  at  short  in- 
tervals ;    the  halDits  are  the  current  of  a  mighty 

ri>Tr,  alwavs  settino-  in  the  same  direction.     From 
48 


^78  MANAGEMENT  OF         [lECT.  XVI. 

the  anal}  sis  of  Aristotle  it  appears  also,  that  the 
habits  afiect  men  in  classes ;  the  passions  only  as 
individuals.  Thus  he  describes  tlie  habits  of  the 
young,  die  old,  and  the  middle  aged ;  of  the  rich 
iind  the  poor ;  of  the  powerful  and  the  feeble  ;  of 
the  prosperous  and  the  unfortunate.  But  in 
speaking  of  the  passions  he  considers  them  indi- 
vidually ;  anger  and  its  remission  ;  love  and  hat- 
red; fear  and  boldness;  shame  and  honor;  com- 
passion and  revenge  ;   envy  and  emulation. 

Although  the  distinction  between  these  two 
powers,  which  divide  between  them  the  control  of 
the  human  will,  is  obvious  and  important,  they  are 
sometimes  of  precisely  the  same  nature,  and  differ 
only  in  degree.  Thus  for  instance  love  is  includ- 
ed among  the  jiassions,  but  friendship  among  the 
habits.  Still  more  common  is  it  to  find  them 
in  opposition  to  each  other,  and  the  most  vehe- 
ment appeals  to  the  passions  are  counteracted  by 
addresses  to  the  calmer  influence  of  the  habits. 

The  occasions,  upon  which  an  attempt  to  jnove 
the  passions  properly  so  called  is  advisable,  do 
not  often  occur.  In  ordinary  cases  the  speaker's 
manner  should  be  calm  and  moderate ;  avoiding 
all  affected  elevation  or  energy.  Correctness  of 
thought  and  expression,  pleasantness  and  probabil- 


lECT.  XVI.]  THE  PASSIONS.  379 

ity  are  the  natural  cliaracters  of  discourses,  urged 
to  the  habits  of  the  hearers.  But  to  stir  the  pas- 
sions, the  tempests  of  the  soul,  grandeur  of  expres- 
sion, boldness  and  irregularity  of  thought,  and 
gravity,  seriousness,  inflexibility  of  manner,  be- 
come indispensable.  In  the  compositions  of  the 
drama,  the  habits  or  manners  belong  exclusively 
to  the  province  of  comedy  ;  the  passions  to  that  of 
tragedy. 

One  of  the  most  universal  precepts,  recom- 
mended alike  by  all  the  writers  upon  the  science 
ancient  and  modern,  is  that  the  orator  himself 
should  feel  the  passion,  which  he  purposes  to  ex- 
cite. This  rule  however  must  be  received  with 
some  limitations.  It  is  applicable  only  to  some  of 
the  passions,  and  even  with  regard  to  those  re- 
quires, that  the  speaker  should  be  affected  only  in 
such  degree,  as  to  leave  him  in  perfect  possession 
of  all  his  intellectual  faculties.  Si  vis  me  fiere, 
dolendum  est  primum  tibi  ipsi.  This  is  the  di- 
rection of  Horace  to  the  ^vriter  for  the  stage  ;  and 
thus  far  the  rule  is  unquestionably  as  applicable  to 
the  forum,  as  to  the  theatre.  But  suppose  the 
passion  to  be  excited  is  fear  or  shame  ;  is  the  ora- 
tor, who  would  rouse  these  emotions,  to  partake  of 
them  himself  ?     Suppose  it  to  be  anger  or  indig- 


380  MANAGEMENT  OF         [lECT.  XVI. 

nation  ;  a  sentiment  justifiable  and  laudable  in  a 
virtuous  cause  ;  must  he  not  rather  strugi^le  to 
suppress  in  himself  the  natural  violence  of  tliese 
passions,  to  communicate  them  even  in  their  due 
degree  to  his  audience  ?  In  applying  generally  to 
all  the  passions  that  rule,  which  was  originally  giv- 
en only  for  that  of  compassion,  or  s)  mpathy  with 
distress,  the  doctrine  has  been  too  far  extended, 
and  reminds  us  of  Johnson's  reply  to  some  shallow 
wit,  who  repeated  with  great  emphasis  a  verse, 
which  he  deemed  truly  sublime ; 

"  Who  rules  o'er  freemen,  should  himself  be  free." 
That,  said  Johnson,  is  as  much  as  to  say, 
"  Who  drives  fat  oxen,  should  himself  be  fat." 

Indeed  the  passions,  which  are  liable  to  be  excited 
by  the  powers  of  oratory,  are  numerous ;  and 
so  ne  of  those,  which  act  with  the  most  irresistible 
energy  upon  the  hearts  of  mankind,  are  altogether 
omitted  in  the  catalogue  of  Aristotle.  Ambition, 
avarice,  the  love  of  fame,  patriotism,  are  all  pas- 
sions to  be  numbered  among  the  sharpest  stimu- 
lants to  action,  and  to  the  motives,  which  they  pre- 
sent, much  of  the  most  celebrated  eloquence  of  all 
ages  has  been  addressed.     There  is  however  a 


LECT.  XVI.]      THE  PASSIONS.  381 

more  restricted  sense,  in  \v'hich  the  terai  passion  is 
used,  and  of  u  hich  the  precisest  idea  will  be  form- 
ed by  tracing  its  et}'mology.  In  this  sense  it  is 
equivalent  to  sufferance,  distress,  anguish.  In 
this  sense  it  has  emphatically  been  applied  to  die 
last  sufferings  of  the  Saviour  ;  and  to  this  sense  it 
must  be  confined,  ^vhcn  ^ve  are  inquiring  into  those 
pathetic  powers  of  oratory,  which  aw  aken  the  sym- 
pathies of  the  audience.  These  very  words  them- 
selves,  pathetic  and  sympathy,  are  both  derived  im- 
mediately from  the  Greek  zu&og,  of  which  the  Latin 
passio  is  merely  a  translation.  And  the  meaning, 
universally  annexed  to  them,  has  kept  closer  to  their 
original  derivation,  than  the  Latin  term.  We  could 
scarcely  take  up  an  oration  of  celebrated  fame, 
without  discovering  in  all  its  paits  pabsages,  calcu- 
lated to  move  the  passions.  But  we  should  ccr- 
tahily  denominate  pathetic  only  those,  which  have 
a  tendency  to  excite  our  sympathies,  ^vith  some 
exhibition  of  cUstress.  This  brings  us  back  to  the 
poetical  precept  of  Horace,  w  hich  the  experience  of 
all  ages  will  verify,  and  which  a  public  speaker 
can  never  imprint  too  deeply  upon  his  mind.  If 
then  your  purpose  be  to  stir  compassion,  begin  by 
feeling  it  yourself.  But  would  you  inflame  an- 
ger ?     Be  cool.     Would  you  bring  to  a  sense  of 


382  MANAGEMENT  OF         [lECT.  XVI. 

shame  ?  Sound  the  trump  of  unblemished  honor. 
Would  you  strike  terror  ?  Be  intrepid ;  and  in 
general  remember,  that  if  it  is  the  nature  of  some 
passions  to  spread  by  contagion,  it  is  equally  char- 
acteristic  of  others  ne\  er  to  kindle  without  colli- 
sion. 

But  whatsoever  be  the  passions,  upon  which 
the  orator  is  desirous  of  working,  this  is  tlie  occa- 
sion, upon  which  he  must  summon  all  the  powers 
of  imagination.  By  imagination  I  here  mean 
what  perhaps  is  more  properly  called  fantasy ;  the 
power  of  representing  to  the  mind  the  images  of 
absent  things.  The  operation  of  the  passions  is 
much  more  uniform  among  mankind,  than  that  of 
reason.  The  "  sensible  of  pain"  or  of  pleasure  is 
nearly  the  same  in  all  human  beings.  It  differs 
only  in  degree.  By  the  power  of  imagination  the 
orator  undergoes  a  virtual  transformation.  He 
identifies  himself  either  with  the  person,  in  whose 
behalf  he  would  excite  the  sentiment  of  compas- 
sion, or  with  the  antagonist,  against  whom  he  is  to 
contend,  or  with  the  auditor,  whom  he  is  to  con- 
vince or  persuade ;  or  successively  with  each  of 
them  in  turn.  In  the  deep  silence  of  meditation 
he  holds  an  instructive  dialogue  with  every  one  (rf 
these  personages.     Of  his  client  he  learns  what  he 


LECT.  XVI.]  THE  PASSIONS.  383 

most  keenly  feels;  of  the  antagonist  what  he 
most  seriously  dreads ;  of  the  auditor  what  he 
most  readily  believes.  He  sounds  the  depth  of 
every  heart ;  he  measures  the  compass  of  every 
mind ;  he  explores  the  secret  recesses  of  nature 
herself.  To  him,  as  to  the  immortal  bard,  she  un- 
veils her  face;  to  him  she  presents  her  golden 
keys,  and  says, 

This  can  unlock  the  gates  of  joy, 

Of  horror  that,  and  secret  fears, 

Or  ope  the  sacred  source  of  sympathetic  tears. 

The  power  of  imagination  furnishes  a  substi- 
tute for  the  evidence  of  all  the  senses.  It  creates 
a»id  multiplies  all  those  incidents,  which,  being  the 
constant  attendants  upon  all  realities,  have  always 
so  strong  a  tendency  to  enforce  belief.  So  indis- 
pensable is  this  power  to  the  success  of  that  orato- 
ry, which  aims  at  the  dominion  of  the  passions,  that 
a  public  speaker  can  institute  no  more  important 
self-examination,  than  the  inquiry  whether  it  has 
been  bestowed  upon  him  by  nature.  If  it  has, 
let  him  cherish  and  cultivate  it,  as  the  most  pre- 
cious of  heaven's  blessings.  If  it  has  not,  let  him 
graduate  tlie  scale  of  his  ambition  to  the  tempe- 


384  MANAGEMENT  OF         [lECT.  XVI. 

rate  regions  of  eloquence,  and  aspire  only  to  the 
reputation  of  being  the  orator  of  reason. 

In  each  of  our  three  great  scenes  of  public 
speaking,  the  legislature,  the  bar,  and  the  pulpit, 
there  is  one  master  passion,  which  bears,  or  is  sup- 
posed to  bear  an  ascendency  so  uncontroled,  that 
to  attempt  operating  upon  it  is  the  never  fliiling 
resource  of  all  those  orators,  who  are  destitute  of 
every  other.  I  shall  conclude  this  lecture  with  a 
few  remarks  upon  them  ;  and  with  pointing  them 
out  to  you  rather  by  way  of  wai'ning,  than  of  re- 
commendation. These  passions  are  jealousy,  av- 
arice, and  fear. 

The  deliberative  passion  is  jealousy.  The  or- 
dinary mode  of  exciting  it  is  by  raising  suspicions 
against  the  person  or  character  of  an  opponent; 
by  invidious  reflections  ;  by  insinuations  against 
his  integrity,  and  imputations  upon  his  motives. 
This  species  of  oratory  is  generally  suggested  by 
the  virulence  of  party  spirit.  It  is  forbidden  by 
the  rules  of  order  in  all  deliberative  assemblies ; 
but  is  always  practised  upon  the  discussion  of 
questions,  which  rouse  the  spirit  of  faction.  It  is 
the  natural  resort  of  those,  who  are  unable  to  sup- 
port by  reason  or  argument  the  opinions,  to  which 
they  adhere.      Its  efficacy  is  proportioned  to  the 


LECT.  XVI.]  THE  PASSIONS.  385 

prejudices  and  ignorance  of  the  hearers,  to  vrhom 
it  is  addressed,  and  the  frequency  of  its  use  in  our 
legislative  assemblies  for  many  years  is  not  the 
most  honorable  feature  in  our  national  character. 
It  is  also  not  uncommon  in  the  demonstrative  dis- 
courses of  our  public  anniversaries,  which  are 
thus  made  the  engines  of  envy  and  slander.  It  is 
not  to  be  denied,  that  these  are  weapons  of  for- 
midable power ;  but  a  sound  understanding  will 
disdain,  and  a  generous  heart  will  abhor  the  use  of 
them. 

The  judicial  passion  is  avarice.  I  have  here- 
tofore shown,  that  the  occasions,  upon  which  any 
address  to  the  passions  is  admissible  in  our  courts 
of  justice,  are  rare  ;  and  that  they  must  of  neces- 
sity imply  a  discretionary  power  in  the  persons, 
who  are  to  decide  upon  the  issue.  There  are 
certain  cases,  in  v^hich  our  judges  possess  certain 
discretionary  powers  ;  but  they  always  presuppose 
the  offender  tried  and  convicted.  The  discretion 
of  the  court  extends  only  to  the  degree  of  punish- 
ment. Here  is  not  much  scope  for  eloquence  of 
any  kind.  The  mercy  of  the  court  usually  fore- 
stalls the  need  of  the  culprit,  and  there  is  scarcely 
ever  a  disposition  or  an  oppoitunity  to  urge  their 
severity.      There  are  -other  cases,  when  the  exer- 


49 


'^^^  MANAGEMENT  OF         [lECT.  XVI. 

cise  of  discretionary  powers  is  allotted  to  juries. 
These  are  mostly  upon  trials  for  personal  injuries, 
Avhere  juries  have  to  settle  the  amount  of  damages. 
Such  as  actions  for  assault  and  battery,  slander,  li- 
bels, and  other  wrongs  if  possil^le  of  a  still  rriore 
atrocious  complexion  ;  which,  from  the  compara- 
tive purity  of  our  manners,  are  happily  almost  un- 
known among  us.  In  these  cases  however  the 
only  sympathies  of  the  jury,  which  an  orator  cau 
attempt  to  move,  are  their  love  of  money  ;  for,  by 
a  gross  imperfection  in  our  codes  of  law,  the  only 
reparation  attainable  for  all  the  bodily  pain,  men- 
tal affliction,  or  laceration  of  fame,  which  the  vil- 
lany  of  one  man  can  inflict  upon  the  feelings  of 
another,  is  a  compensation  in  money.  The  only 
powers  of  a  jury,  in  the  most  atrocious  outrages  of 
these  kinds,  are  to  strike  an  arithmetical  rule  of 
three  between  the  pecuniary  means  of  the  offend- 
er and  the  moral  and  physical  suflferings  of  the  in- 
jured party.  There  is,  it  must  be  confessed,  not 
much  delicacy  of  sentiment  in  this  tariff  of  moral 
feelings,  this  scale  of  depreciation  lor  honor  and 
fame.  A  ruffian  has  crippled  you  for  life ;  a  se- 
ducer has  murdered  your  domestic  peace ;  a  slan- 
derer has  blasted  your  good  name;  and  for 
wrongs  thus  enormous,  thus  inexpiable,  you  are 


LECT.  XVI.]  THE  PASSIONS.  387 

compelled  to  ask  of  your  country's  justice  a  beg- 
garly retribution  of  dollars  and  cents ;  to  solicit 
the  equivalent  for  affliction,  the  premium  for  pain, 
the  indemnity  for  shame,  cast  up  correctly  to  a 
mill  in  regular  federal  currency.  A  fiend  in 
human  shape  has  trampled  under  foot  honor,  hu- 
manity, friendship,  the  rights  of  nature,  and  the 
ties  of  connubial  society ;  but  a  check  upon  the 
bank  atones  for  all  his  crime  ;  a  scrap  of  silk  pa- 
per spunges  up  the  whole  blot  of  his  infaniy.  It 
is  not  here  the  place  to  inquire,  whether  a  system 
of  jurisprudence  might  not  be  devised,  which 
should  secure  a  more  honorable  protection  to  per- 
sonal rights  ;  but  it  is  manifest  that  the  maxim, 
which  affixes  to  personal  sufferings  their  stated 
price  in  current  coin,  which  estimates  honor  and 
shame  by  troy  weight,  which  balances  so  many 
pangs  of  body  with  so  many  ounces  of  silver,  and 
so  much  anguish  of  mind  with  so  many  penny- 
weights of  gold,  makes  avarice  the  unresisted  um- 
pire of  the  soul.  It  administers  money  as  the 
universal  potion  for  healing  jUI  the  bruises  of  the 
mind ;  and  n^akcs  extortion  the  only  standard  for 
measuring  the  merits  of  virtue. 

The  passion  of  the  pulpit  orator  is  fear.      As 
the  exhortations  of  the  divine  have  reference  prin- 


388  MANAGEMENT   OF  [lECT.  XVI. 

cipally  to  the  interests  of  a  future  existence,  it  is 
natural  and  proper,  that  he  should  often  draw  from 
the  same  source  his  materials  of  argument  or  of 
persuasion.  And  as  the  doctrines  of  religion  are 
not  aided  among  us  by  the  weapons  of  secular 
power,  the  terrors  of  futurity  are  the  only  in- 
struments, by  which  numerous  classes  of  i^eo- 
ple  are  retained  stedfast  in  their  faith,  or  reg- 
ulated, jn  their  practice.  The  vengeance  of  an 
offended  Deity  is  to  many  preachers  of  many 
denominations  the  only  fountain  of  motives  or 
of  reasoning;  and  their  eloquence  can  never 
kindle  without  resorting  to  the  flames  of  hell.  I 
would  not  be  understood,  my  friends,  to  treat  this 
subject  with  a  trifling  hand.  It  is  a  serious  con- 
cern to  us  all.  But  mere  terror  is  a  base  and  ser- 
vile passion  ;  nor  should  I  value  at  a  straw  the  re- 
ligion or  tlie  morality,  which  hinges  upon  nothing 
else.  Let  me  hope  that  you,  and  those  who 
may  hereafter  enjoy  the  benefits  of  your  ministry, 
will  ever  feel  the  force  and  eflicacy  of  some  nobler, 
some  more  generous  stimulus  to  piety  and  virtue, 
than  the  mere  selfishness  even  of  eternity,  and  the 
shivering  horrors  of  hell  fire. 

We  have  now  gone  through  the  first  great  di- 
vision of  the  rhetorical  science.     We  have  succes- 


LECT.  XVI.]  THE  PASSIONS.  S89 

sively  treated  of  the  state  of  the  controvers}%  the 
oratorical  topics,  the  arguments  peculiarly  adapt- 
ed to  the  demonstrative,  deliberative,  judicial,  and 
religious  class  of  discourses.  We  have  endeav- 
oured to  trace  the  address  and  character  suitable 
to  an  orator,  and  to  point  out  the  true  use  and 
proper  means  of  exciting  and  directing  the  pas- 
sions. The  subject  is  copious ;  aiid,  although  it 
has  occupied  so  large  a  portion  of  our  time,  is  \  cr}- 
far  from  being  exhausted.  My  duties  have  been 
to  collect  and  present  to  yqur  view  the  materials 
for  tlie  plastic  hands  of  genius  to  fashion  into 
shape.  For  the  employment  of  these  materials 
you  will  naturally  look  not  to  me,  but  to  your- 
selves ;  not  to  the  lessons  of  a  teacher,  but  to  the 
fertility  of  your  own  invention. 


LECTURE     XVII. 


DISPOSITION.     EXORDIUM. 


IT  will  be  remembered,  that,  in  making  the 
general  distribution  of  the  science  of  rhetoric  into 
its  primary  divisions,  they  were  stated  to  be  five ; 
invention,  disposition,  elocution,  memory,  and 
pronunciation  or  action. 

To  the  first  of  these  divisions,  invention,  my 
ten  last  lectures  have  been  devoted ;  containing  a 
general  view  of  every  thing,  which  the  rhetoricians 
of  antiquity  considered  as  constituting  the  mate- 
rials of  an  oratorical  discourse.  The  formation  of 
these  materials  was  the  proper  and  exclusive  func- 
tion of  invention ;  which  was  analogous  onlv  to 
the  state  of  chaos  in  the  creation  of  the  world.  To 
shape  this  chaos  into  form,  to  give  the  original 


392  DISPOSITION.  [lEC1\  XVII. 

mass  of  mingled  elements  an  existence  for  use  or 
beauty,  the  principle  of  order  must  be  introduced ; 
as  the  creation  of  light  immediately  succeeded 
that  of  matter ;  and  the  division  of  light  from  dark- 
ness was  the  first  thing,  wliich  the  Supreme  Crea- 
tor saw  to  be  good.  This  principle  of  order  in 
rhetoric  is  termed  disposition  ;  and  it  is  that,  up- 
on which  I  am  now  to  discourse. 

Disposition,  according  to  the  definition  of  Cic- 
ero, to  which  I  formerly  referred  you,  is  "  the  or- 
derly arrangement  of  the  things  invented."  And 
I  then  suggested  to  you  some  considerations  for 
estimating  its  importance.  They  will  the  more 
especially  merit  your  attention,  inasmuch  as  this 
part  of  the  oratorical  talent  is  more  indebted  to 
study,  than  to  nature ;  rather  to  be  acquired  by 
the  assiduous  toils  of  industry,  than  communicat- 
ed by  the  gratuitous  bounties  of  genius.  The 
power  of  invention  is  distributed  with  the  same  ca- 
pricious partiality,  which  marks  all  the  endow- 
ments  of  nature  to  the  superficial  mind  of  man.  In 
the  views  of  a  wise  and  beneficent  Providence  there 
must  be  some  great  and  regular  principle,  upon 
which  the  energies  of  genius  are  bestowed  in  their 
relative  proportions,  as  they  appear  a: .  ong  man- 
kind;   but  to  our  contracted  capacity  of  observa- 


LECT.  XVII.]  EXORDIUM.  393 

tion  that  principle  is  not  discoverable.  Invention 
is  the  child  of  genius,  and  genius  is  not  to  be  im- 
parted by  tuition.  But  if  genius  be  heaven's  best 
gift,  "  order  is  heaven's  first  law;"  and  the  power 
of  giving  effect  and  execution  to  this  law  is  placed 
within  the  reach  of  our  own  assiduity.  In  con- 
templating that  stupendous  system  of  physical  be- 
ing, which  hangs  upon  the  unvarying  laws  of  mat- 
ter and  the  regular  motions  of  unnumbered 
worlds,  the  human  mind  shrinks  from  the  vastncss 
of  its  own  conceptions.  Of  the  power  of  creation 
it  is  incapable  of  forming  a  distinct  idea.  But  it 
sees,  it  comprehends,  it  calculates  the  operations  of 
a  Supreme  Disposer  ;  and  in  the  act  of  arrange- 
ment or  disposition  alone  are  the  works  of  man 
capable  of  imitating  the  laws  of  the  Deity.  The 
system  of  the  universe  itself  is  maintained  only  b}^ 
its  perfect  and  immutable  order.  Suppose  that 
order  but  for  one  instant  suspended,  and  the  innu- 
merable host  of  heaven,  those  fixed  or  wandering 
stars,  which  through  the  regions  of  unbounded 
space,  "  still  choiring  to  the  young  eyed  cheru- 
bim," sing  the  omnipotence  of  their  Maker,  would 
rush  together  in  hideous  ruin,  and  chaos  return 

again. 

50 


394  DISPOSITION.       [lect.  xvie. 

In  the  comparative  estimate  of  the  two  facul- 
ties, as  they  arc  susceptible  of  being  possessed  by 
the  human  understanding,  we  shall  perceive,  that 
invention  is  an  attribute  of  the  imagination,  and 
disposition  an  exercise  of  the  judgment.  Inven- 
tion soars  on  the  pinions  of  fancy ;  disposition 
plods  in  the  path  of  reason.  Yet  are  they  mutual- 
ly dependent  upon  each  other.  Invention  without 
order  is  chaos  before  the  creation  of  light.  Order 
without  invention  is  a  mere  unintelligent  operation 
of  mechanical  power.  And  widely  as  the  charac- 
ters of  these  co-ordinate  agents  dirfer  from  each 
other,  there  are  points  of  contact  between  them, 
which  assimilate  and  almost  identify  them  togeth- 
er. Some  invention  is  indispensable  to  conceive 
and  combine  any  complicated  system  of  arrange- 
ment, and  some  rule  of  order  no  less  essential  to 
embody  the  visions  of  fancy. 

Disposition,  as  applied  to  rhetoric,  is  but  anoth- 
er word  for  method.  According  to  Quinctilian  it 
is  "  a  useful  distribution  of  things,  or  of  parts ; 
assigning  to  each  its  proper  place  and  station."  It 
is  obvious  then,  that  no  general  rule  of  disposition 
can  be  given  for  the  various  classes  of  public 
speaking.  The  same  disposition,  which  would  be 
suitable  to  a  deliberative  speech,  would  be  utterly 


I 


LECT.  XVII.]  EXORDIUM.  595 

inapplicable  for  the  management  of  a  cause  in  a 
judicial  court.  That,  which  would  be  proper  for 
a  demonstrative  oration  or  a  sermon,  would  again 
differ  from  botli  the  others,  and  even  with  regard 
to  discourses  of  the  same  kind  it  must  be  admit- 
ted, that  from  the  creation  of  the  world  to  this 
hour  no  two  occasions  of  public  speaking  have 
been  in  every  respect  iilike.  The  speaker  there- 
fore must  exercise  his  own  discernment.  He 
must  study  his  subject,  examine  its  bearings, 
measure  its  capacities,  and  use  his  own  ingenuity 
according  to  his  opportunities. 

The  ancient  rhetoricians  are  not  all  agreed 
either  in  the  subjects,  which  they  comprehend  un- 
der the  article  of  disposition,  or  in  the  number  and 
denominations  of  the  distinct  paits,  which  are 
combined  in  the  composition  of  a  regular  dis- 
course. Under  the  head  of  disposition  Quinctil- 
ian  treats  solely  and  exclusively  of  judicial  causes; 
and  teaches  how  and  when  the  several  states  of 
conjecture,  of  definition,  of  quantity,  of  quality, 
are  to  be  assumed,  together  with  the  various  ques- 
tions, which  may  put  in  issue  the  jurisdiction 
of  the  court,  or  the  meaning  and  construction 
of  the  law ;  while  Aristotle  and  Cicero  include 
in  their  ideas   of    disposition  the   several   com- 


396  DISPOSITION.  [lECT.  XVII, 

ponent  parts  of  an  oration ;  a  subject  likewise 
copiously  handled  by  Quinctilian,  but  which  he 
ranges  under  t!ie  first  general  head  of  invention. 

The  distinct  parts  of  a  discourse,  enumerated 
by  Aristotle,  are  only  four ;  introduction,  proposi- 
tion, proof,  and  conclusion ;  and  even  of  diese 
four  he  pronounces  the  second  and  diird  only  to 
be  indispensable  ;  since  a  discourse  may  be  com- 
plete without  the  formality  of  an  exordium  or  of  a 
peroration.  To  these  four  parts  Quinctilian  adds 
a  fifth,  with  some  difference  in  the  denomination 
of  the  parts.  He  distinguishes  the  introduction, 
narratirm,  proof,  refutation,  and  conclusion.  But 
the  distribution  of  Cicero  is  still  further  extended, 
and  recognises  six  parts  under  the  names  of  in- 
troduction, narration,  proposition,  proof,  refuta- 
tion, and  conclusion. 

In  examining  particularly  into  this  diversity  of 
technical  divisions  we  perceive,  that  it  arises  in 
both  instances  from  that  rage  of  minute  and  subtle 
iiubdivisions,  which  we  have  noticed  on  former 
occasions.  Thus  Quinctilian  gains  a  point  upon 
Aristotle  by  subdividing  his  proof  into  two  parts, 
which  he  calls  confirmation  and  refutation  ;  by  the 
first  of  which  he  understands  proof,  adduced  m 
support  of  a  proposition,  without  reference  to  an 


LECP.  XVII.]  EXORDIUM.  39? 

adversary  ;    and  by  die  second,  proof  in  repl}^  to 
objections.       A   similar   minuteness  of  analysis 
forms  the  sixth  head  of  division,  assumed  by  Cic- 
ero.    Under  the  name  of  proposition  Aristotle  in- 
cluded  the  narration.       Quinctilian   changes  the 
name,  and  under  the  head  of  nan^ation  includes  the 
proposition.      Cicero  separates  them  entirely,  and 
treats  each  of  them  as  a  distinct  general  division. 
Other  rhetoricians  have  multiplied  them  still  fur- 
ther ;    but  microscopic  researches  into  trivial  dis- 
tinctions will   never  teach  us  genuine  rhetoric; 
much  less  will  they  ever  form  an  eloquent  orator. 
The  line  of  distinction  between  the  parts  assigned 
by  Aristotle  is  strong  and  clear.     It  will  suit  every 
class  of  discourses,  and  adapt  itself  to  every  form 
of  eloquence.       The    divisions    of   Cicero   and 
Quinctilian  are  more  peculiarl}-  applicable  to  the 
practice  of  the  bar.      It  is  not  Acry  material  which 
of  these  arrangements  is  pursued;  but  I  shall  follow 
that  of  Cicero,  because  it  has  been  prescribed  to 
me,  and  shall  successively  treat  of  the  properties 
and  uses  of  the  introduction,  narration,  proposi- 
tion, confirmation,  confutation,  and  conclusion,  as 
distinct  parts  of  a  regular  discourse ;    and  to  these 
I  shall  add,  as  occasion  may  require,  remarks  on 


398  DISPOSITION.        [lect.  xvir, 

the  subordinate  and  incidental  topics  of  transition, 
digression,  and  amplification. 

It  will  scarcely  be  necessary  to  detain  you  long 
with  a  definition  or  explanation  of  the  terms,  which 
of  themselves  are  sufficiently  understood.  They 
mean  only,  tliat  in  the  composition  of  an  elaborate 
oration  the  most  easy  and  proper  course  you  can 
adopt  is  to  begin  with  an  exordium ;  then  proceed 
to  relate  the  facts,  upon  which  you  mean  to  rely ; 
after  which  you  are  to  unfold  the  proposition,  con- 
stituting the  subject  of  your  discourse,  and  sup- 
port it  by  such  proof,  as  you  are  able  to  adduce 
for  its  confirmation.  When  the  objections  erf 
your  antagonist  have  been  heard,  you  are  to  rein- 
force your  proof  by  confuting  them ;  and  close 
the  whole  by  a  peroration,  or  conclusion. 

Of  all  these  parts  you  are  to  bear  in  mind,  that 
the  proposition  and  the  proof  are  alone  of  absolute 
necessity  to  every  public  discourse.  Although  in 
real  life  it  is  not  unexampled  to  hear  a  man  speak- 
ing in  public  without  purpose  and  without  proof, 
yet  the  case  is  not  admissible  in  theory,  and  there 
is  no  speculative  system  of  rhetoric,  to  which  such 
harrangues  are  reducible.  But  the  exordium  and 
peroration  are  ornamental,  rather  than  vital  parts. 
Narration  and  refutation  are  incidental,  and  not  al- 


LECT.  XVII.]  EXORDIUM.  399 

ways  necessar}'  or  proper.  In  elucidating  howev- 
er the  properties  and  uses  of  these  several  parts,  it 
will  be  most  useful  to  consider  them  in  the  order, 
which  they  themselves  take  in  the  discourses 
where  they  all  find  a  place,  rather  than  in  that  of 
their  relative  importance.  Let  us  begin  then  with 
the  exordium. 

The  exordium  is  defined  by  Cicero  "  a  dis- 
course to  prepare  the  minds  of  the  audience  for 
the  favorable  reception  of  the  remainder."  Hence 
you  will  observe  it  is  not  inht  rent  in  the  subject ; 
but  a  mere  preliminary  to  conciliate  the  favor  of 
the  hearer.  Though  not  always  indispensable,  it 
is  often  necessary ;  and  when  not  improper  should 
never  be  omitted.  It  is  not  peculiar  to  the  scenes 
of  public  oratory  ;  it  is  equally  habitual  to  every 
species  of  WTitten  composition,  and  its  use  is  anal- 
ogous to  that  of  the  common  salutations  among 
men,  which  under  some  form  or  other  in  every 
state  of  society  precede  their  entrance  upon  the 
transaction  of  business.  The  universal  propensi- 
ty to  some  sort  of  prefatory  introduction,  at  the 
threshold  of  all  intercourse  between  men,  may 
perhaps  be  traced  to  the  constitution  of  human  na- 
ture, independent  of  any  state  of  society.  It  has 
been  a  question  among  philosophers  whetlier  the 


400  DISPOSITION.  [lECT.    XVII. 

natural  state  of  man  is  that  of  peace  or  of  war. 
Different  solutions  have  witli  great  and  rival  inge- 
nuity been  drawn  from  different  speculati^'e  views 
of  human  nature.  If  we  judge  however  from  the 
experience  we  have  of  mankind  in  the  state,  ap- 
proaching nearest  to  that  of  nature,  in  which  men 
have  ever  been  found,  or  from  the  nature  and 
character  of  human  wants  and  human  passions, 
or  by  analogy  from  the  state  of  other  wild  beasts 
among  themselves,  I  think  we  shall  conclude,  that 
the  state  of  nature,  like  the  state  of  society,  is  in 
itself  not  uniformly  a  state  either  of  peace  or  war ; 
but  alternately  of  either.  Stimulated  by  the  neces- 
sities or  the  passions,  implanted  in  his  nature  for  the 
preservation  of  the  individual  or  of  the  species, 
man  would  be  at  war  with  any  of  his  fellow  crea- 
tures, from  whom  he  could  wrest  the  object  of 
his  immediate  wants.  Satiated  and  satisfied,  he 
would  be  at  peace  with  the  whole  creation.  In 
hunger  he  would  be  active  and  violent ;  in  full- 
ness indolent  and  cowardly.  A  natural  result  of 
this  variation  of  temper  would  be,  that,  in  the  acci- 
dental meeting  of  two  human  creatures,  a  recipro- 
cal uncertainty  would  exist  in  the  bosom  of  each 
\vith  regard  to  the  disposition  of  the  other ;  and 
one  of  the  first  steps  towards  association  would  be 


LECT.  XVII.]  EXORDIUM.  401 

the   concert  of  some   sign  or   indication,  which 
might  be  understood  as  a  i)ledge  of  peace  at  such 
occurrences.      A  manifestation   of  amity  would 
thus  become  habitual,  as  introductory  to  e\'ery 
transaction  of  a  peaceable  nature  between  men ; 
and  passing  from  speculation  to  experience,  we 
find  some  usage  of  this  kind  practised  by  every 
tribe  of  savages,  as  well  as  among  all  the  civilized 
nations,  with  which  we  are  acquainted.      When 
by  the  progi-ess  of  society  the  original  motive  for 
exhibiting  these   banners  of  benevolence  disap- 
pears, the  courtesies  of  civilized  life  assume  its 
place,  and  adopt,  as  a  customary  formality,  what 
was  in  its  origin  a  promise  of  kindness.       In  all 
civilized  society  professions  of  friendship  are  mul- 
tiplied in  proportion  as  its  realities  diminisii.    Sal- 
utations, embraces,  the  joining  of  hands,  are  lav- 
ished as  tokens  of  mutual  regard,  even  when  it  is 
not  felt ;    and  wherever  man  meets  man  in  the  at- 
titude of  peace,  be  it  for  objects  of  pleasure,  of 
business,  or  of  devotion,  some  introduction  to  ev- 
ery purpose  is  held  to  be  not  less  necessary,  tlian 
the  purpose  itself.      From  the  commo)i  forms  of 
personal  intercourse  the  usage  was  transfeiTcd  to 
the  silent  communications,  introduced  by  the  art 

of  writing,  and  all  literary  discourse,  from  the  Il\- 
51 


402  DISPOSITION.  [lECT.  XVHr 

miliar  letter  to  the  epic  poem,  announces  itself  with 
more  or  less  formality  of  introduction,  according 
to  the  nature  of  the  subject  and  the  genius  of  the 
writer. 

The  general  purpose  of  an  oratorical  exordium 
then  is  to  prepare  the  minds  of  the  hearers  for  re- 
ceiving the  rest  of  the  discourse ;  or  in  other 
words  to  engage  their  good  will,  their  attention, 
and  their  docility  ;  to  interest  them  in  favor  of  the 
speaker ;  to  rivet  their  attention  to  his  speech ; 
and  to  enlist  their  feelings  in  behalf  of  his  cause. 
These  are  distinct  objects,  and  are  to  be  promot- 
ed by  different  means.  The  skill  of  the  orator 
consists  in  combining  them  judiciously,  and  point- 
ing them  with  effect  to  the  same  end. 

The  good  will  of  the  audience  towards  the 
speaker  is  the  first  object  of  consideration.  To 
estimate  its  importance  we  need  only  place  our- 
selves in  the  situation  of  hearers,  and  consult  our 
own  breasts.  How  much  more  readily  do  we  be- 
lieve those,  whom  we  love,  than  those,  against 
whom  we  feel  disgust  or  aversion.  Confidence  is 
the  natural  companion  of  affection,  and  distrust  is 
almost  inseparable  from  dislike.  In  a  former  lec- 
ture I  suggested  this  to  you,  as  one  of  the  most 
powerful  motives,   which  should  urge  a  public 


LECT.  XVII.]  EXORDIUM.  403 

Speaker  to  lay  the  foundations  of  confidence  in  the 
general  excellence  of  his  personal  character.  But 
a  speaker  may  be  unknown  to  most  of  his  audience, 
and  therefore  an  object  of  their  indifference;  or 
he  may  have  had  prejudices  excited  against  him, 
and  have  evil  impressions  to  remove.  We  are 
HOW  inquiring  what  aids  he  can  derive  for  this  pur- 
pose from  his  exordium. 

He  may  bespeak  favor  by  allusions,  direct  or 
indirect,  to  himself;    by  explanations  of  his  own 
motives  ;  by  professions  of  honor  and  virtue  ;  by 
disproving  or  extenuatmg  charges  or  inculpations, 
which  may  have  been  alledged  against  him  ;    by 
leading  the  mind  of  his  hearers  to  recollections  of 
his  services  or  good  deeds ;    by  enlarging  upon 
the  difficulties,  obstacles,  and  dangers,  with  which 
he  has  contended ;  or  by  express  and  open  solici- 
tation.     This  is  an  easy  but  a  dangerous  topic. 
There  are  few  men,  possessed  of  any  talent  for 
public  speaking,  but  can  display  great  eloquence 
upon  so  favorite  a  subject,  as  themselves.     But  the 
danger  is  of  overrating  its  importance  ;  of  dwell- 
ing upon  it  with  too  much  emphasis  ;  of  provok- 
ing  tl>e  censure  of  the  hearer  by  selfapplause,  or 
his  derision  by  self-admiration.     He  may  bespeak 
favor  by  stimulating  an  opposite  sentiment  againsi 


■104  DISPOSITION.  [lECT.  XVII. 

his  adversary ;  an  txpedient  of  frequent  resort  in 
all  controversial  causes  ;  but  which,  like  the  last, 
requires  great  delicacy  of  hand  to  be  properly 
managed.  It  is  not  difficult  at  any  time  to  stir  up 
sentiments  of  hatred,  envy,  and  contempt  in  the 
human  heart.  But,  as  I  have  heretofore  observed 
to  you,  these  are  poisoned  arroM's,  which  the  im- 
proved morality  of  modern  ages  rejects,  as  unlaw- 
ful weapons  of  war.  There  are  indeed  vices, 
which  even  charity  cannot  rescue  from  the  scourge 
of  scorn ;  and  crimes,  which  even  mercy  would 
doom  to  the  rack  of  indignation.  If  the  detection 
or  exposure  of  these  should  at  any  time  become 
the  duty  of  a  public  orator,  he  may  draw  the  kind- 
ness of  his  audience  to  himself  in  proportion  to 
the  odium  he  pours  upon  them ;  but  he  must 
above  all  things  be  cautious  not  to  mistake  the  cry 
of  his  own  passions  for  the  voice  of  virtue ;  and 
remember  that  profound  admonition  of  the  wisest 
of  men,  wrath  is  cruel,  and  anger  is  outrageous  ; 
but  who  is  able  to  stand  before  envy  ?  The  fa- 
vor of  an  auditory  may  be  induced  by  the  ex- 
pression of  confidence  in  them  ;  by  the  manifes- 
tation of  an  ardent  zeal  for  their  welfare,  of  re- 
spect for  their  opinions,  of  reliance  upon  their  wis- 
dom, their  fortitude,  their  magnanimity.     It  has 


LECT.  XVII.]  EXORDIUM.  405 

been  remarked  by  accurate  observers  of  human 
nature,  that  for  conciliating  kindness  praise  is  a 
more  efficacious  instrument,  than  beneficence ; 
and  perhaps  it  may  be  added,  that  a  muhitude  is 
still  more  susceptible  of  being  influenced  by  praise, 
than  an  individual.  Direct  praise  to  a  single  man 
is  more  liable  to  the  suspicion  of  flattery.  To  an 
assemblage  of  men  it  may  be  oflfered  in  bolder  na- 
kedness, as  they  are  generally  less  scrupulous  in  re- 
ceiving it.  Yet  in  administering  these  sweetmeats 
of  persuasion  the  speaker  should  be  cautious  to 
guard  at  once  against  the  profusion,  \Ahich  must 
cloy  the  receiver,  and  that  officiousness,  which 
would  degrade  himself. 

The  favor  of  an  auditory  may  finally  be  engag- 
ed by  an  exordium,  borrowed  from  the  subject 
itself;  for  which  purpose  the  orator  must  prepare 
himself  by  a  careful  and  impartial  examination  of 
its  character,  with  reference  to  the  previous  dispo- 
sitions of  his  hearers.  And  in  this  point  of  view 
there  are  five  different  shades  of  complexion, 
which  the  subject  may  bear.  It  may  be  popular, 
obnoxious,  equivocal,  trivial,  or  obscure. 

The  popular  subject  is  that,  which,  being  al- 
ready possessed  of  the  public  favor,  calls  for  no 
exertion  on  the  part  of  the  orator  to  bespeak  kind- 


406  DISPOSITION.  [lECT.  XVII. 

ness.  The  obnoxious  subject  is  that,  against 
which  the  hearers  come  forearmed  with  strong 
prepossessions.  The  equivocal  subject  is  that, 
which  presents  a  doubtful  aspect ;  a  mixture  of 
favorable  and  of  unpropitious  circumstances.  The 
trivial  subject  is  that,  which,  involving  no  impor- 
tant interest  or  engaging  no  strong  sensation,  is 
considered  by  the  hearer  as  insignificant,  and  de- 
serving little  attention.  And  the  obscure  subject 
is  that,  which,  by  embracing  a  multitude  of  intri- 
cate and  entangled  facts  or  principles,  perplexes 
the  understanding  of  the  auditory. 

To  suit  these  various  descriptions  of  subjects 
introductions  are  divided  into  two  general  classes, 
the  first  direct,  and  the  second  oblique;  which 
the  Roman  rhetoricians  distinguish  by  the  names 
of  principium  or  beginning,  and  insinuation.  The 
direct  introduction  is  always  to  be  employed  upon 
popular  subjects,  if  any  exordium  is  expedient; 
and  it  is  the  most  suitable  for  the  trivial  and  the  ob- 
scure subjects.  But  in  equivocal  cases  for  the 
most  part,  and  in  obnoxious  subjects  generally,  a 
skilful  orator  will  begin  with  insinuation.  The 
name  is  sufficiently  indicative  of  the  thing.  It 
arises  from  the  necessity  of  the  case  and  the  most 
common  propeiviities  of  mankind.      For  directly 


LECT.  XVII.]  EXORDIUM.  407 

to  solicit  their  good  will  in  the  moment  of  their 
animosity,  instead  of  conciliating  their  kindness 
only  exasperates  their  indignation.  On  such  oc- 
casions the  only  possible  chance  of  success,  of 
which  the  speaker  can  avail  himself,  is  to  begin  by 
diverting  his  hearers  from  their  own  thoughts. 
He  must  appease  them  with  excuses ;  soothe 
them  with  apologies.  He  must  allure  the  atten- 
tion of  tlieir  minds  from  objects  of  their  aversion 
to  images,  in  which  they  take  delight ;  from  char- 
acters, whom  they  despise  or  hate,  to  those,  whom 
they  love  and  revere.  The  real  purpose  of  his 
discourse  must  sometimes  be  concealed  ;  some- 
times even  disguised.  An  occasional  incident  oc- 
curring at  the  moment ;  a  humorous  anecdote, 
ingeniously  pointed  to  the  purpose  ;  a  smart  re- 
tort or  repartee,  arising  from  the  opponent's  re- 
cent conclusion;  an  allusion  to  some  object  of 
sympathy  to  the  audience  ;  an  address  to  the  nat- 
ural love  of  novelty,  or  to  the  taste  for  satire  ;  all 
these  may  furnish  the  variety  of  expedients,  which 
the  speaker  must  seize  with  the  suddenness  of  in- 
stinct, to  commence  a  discourse  by  insinuation. 

The  introduction,  whether  direct  or  oblique, 
should  be  simple  and  unassuming  in  its  language  ; 
avoiding  all  appearance  of  brilliancy,  wit,  or  pol- 


408  DisrosiTiON.        [lect.  xvii. 

ished  elegance.  These  are  graces,  the  display  of 
which  tend  rather  to  prepossess  the  audience 
against  a  speaker,  tlian  in  his  favor.  They  raise 
that  sort  of  temper,  with  which  we  observe  a  hand- 
some person  admiring  himself  before  a  glass.  The 
natural  kindness  towards  beauty  is  lost  in  the  nat- 
ural disgust  at  vanity.  To  excite  the  admiration 
of  his  audience  the  speaker  must  cautiously  fpr- 
JDcar  to  discover  his  own.  But  he  may  throw 
into  it  the  whole  powers  of  his  mind,  by  energy  of 
thought  and  dignity  of  sentiment ;  for  nothing  can 
so  forcibly  propitiate  his  heaier  both  to  himself 
and  to  his  discourse,  as  the  exhibition  of  ideas, 
which  command  respect  without  the  appearance 
of  a  solicitude  to  obtain  it. 

The  introduction  should  avoid  vulgarity  ;  that 
is,  a  character,  \vhich  would  render  it  equally  suit- 
able for  many  other  occasions,  as  for  that,  upon 
which  it  is  used.  It  should  not  be  com  non  nor 
convertible  ;  that  is,  capable  of  being  employed 
with  little  or  no  variation  to  the  purpose  of  the 
speaker's  antagonist,  as  usefully  as  to  his  own.  It 
should  not  be  too  long ;  charged  with  no  heavy 
redundancies ;  incumbered  with  no  superfluous 
repetitions.  It  should  shun  all  appearance  of  in- 
coiigi-uity  or  of  transposition ;    that  is  of  tenden- 


LECT.  XVII.]  EXORDIUM.  409 

cies  opposite  or  even  obviously  varient  from  those 
of  the  discourse,  which  it  precedes.  Most  of  all 
slioiild  it  beware  of  such  a  violation  of  these  rules, 
as  to  spend  itself  upon  purposes  different  from 
those  of  engaging  the  attention,  the  confidence,  and 
the  kindness  of  the  hearer.  To  say  that  it  ought 
to  avoid  exciting  contrary  emotions  in  his  mind 
would  be  to  suppose  the  speaker  had  lost  his 
senses. 

In  all  cases  where  the  speaker  and  his  subject 
arc  both  fully  known,  as  most  frequently  happens 
in  our  judicial  courts,  and  in  our  deliberative  as- 
sembUes,  a  formal  exordium  is  generally  unneces- 
sary, and  often  improper.  On  some  occasions  of 
great  urgency  the  omission  of  all  introduction  be- 
comes itself  a  beauty  of  a  high  order,  as  you  see 
exemplified  in  a  distinguished  manner  by  the  first 
of  Cicero's  orations  against  Catiline.  To  this  ex- 
amj^le  the  sublimest  of  poets  must  have  alluded  in 
that  passage,  where  he  compares  the  arch  enemy, 
satan,  practising  in  his  temptation  of  Eve  the  arts 
of  an  orator  of  ancient  times. 

As  when  of  old  some  orator  renown'd 

In  Athens,  or  free  Rome,  where  eloquence 

Flourish'd  (since  mvite)  to  some  great  cause  addrest, 

Stood  m  himself  collected^  while  each  part, 
52 


410  DISPOSITION.  [lECT.  XVII. 

Motion,  each  act  won  audience,  ere  the  tongue. 

Sometimes  in  height  began,  as  no  delay 

Of  preface  brooking,  through  his  zeal  of  right. 

So  standing,  moving,  or  to  height  up  grown, 

The  tempter  all  impassion'd,  thus  began. 

p.  L.  IX.  670. 

As  the  magnitude  of  the  cause,  and  the  crisis 
of  the  moment  point  the  judgment  of  the  speaker 
to  the  cases,  which  exclude  a  regular  exordium, 
they  serve  to  indicate,  that  an  elaborate  introduc- 
tion is  most  peculiarly  adapted  to  demonstrative 
and  pulpit  discourses.  The  speaker  stands  alone. 
His  subject  generally  depends  upon  his  choice,  and 
until  aimounced  by  himself  is  generally  unknown 
to  his  audience.  There  is  something  new  to  in- 
troduce, and  no  sudden  or  unexpected  pressure  of 
circumstance  can  lop  away  the  preliminaries  of 
custom.  Indeed  in  the  practice  of  modem  orato- 
ry it  may  be  laid  down  as  a  general  rule,  that  ex- 
temporaneous speeches  seldom  can  require,  and 
written  orations  as  seldom  can  forbear  the  formali- 
ties of  a  rhetorical  exordium. 


LECTURE    XVIII. 


NARRATION. 


In  the  composition  of  a  formal  oratorical  dis- 
course the  narration  is  the  part,  which  immediately 
succeds  the  exordium.  The  object  of  the  intro- 
duction being,  as  in  my  last  lecture  I  explained,  to 
conciliate  the  attention,  the  kindness,  and  the  do- 
cility of  the  audience,  when  that  has  been  accom- 
plished, or  at  least  attempted,  so  far  as  the  situa- 
tion and  circumstances  of  the  speaker  have  render- 
ed it  expedient,  his  next  object  must  obviously  be 
to  give  a  general  exposition  of  the  facts,  upon 
which  he  purposes  to  raise  his  argument. 

The  term  itself,  narration,  is  doubtless  so  well 
understood  by  you  all,  that  it  would  derive  no  ad- 
ditional clearness  or  precision  in  your  minds  from 
a  definition.  But,  in  considering  its  application  to 
the  several  classes  of  oraton^  we  shall  find  its  char- 


412  NARRATION.         [lECT.  XVIII. 

acter  and  uses  to  differ  materially  on  different  oc- 
casions, when  it  may  be  employed. 

It  has  sometimes  been  questioned  whether  nar- 
ration belonged  at  all  to  discourses  of  the  delibera- 
tive class;  because  deliberation,  relating  always  to 
future  time,  can  furnish  no  materials  for  a  narrative. 
Indeed  it  is  of  judicial  orations  alone  upon  the  state 
of  conjecture,  or,  to  speak  in  reference  to  our 
own  modem  practice,  it  is  of  trials  at  the  bar  upon 
issues  of  fact,  questions  for  the  decision  of  juries, 
that  narration  forms  a  principal  and  indispensable 
ingredient ;  and  therefore  most  of  the  rhetorical 
precepts  for  the  conduct  of  this  part  of  a  dis- 
course are  adapted  especially  to  occasions  of  that 
nature.  But  to  every  other  mode  of  public  speak- 
ing narration  is  incidental.  The  utility  of  any 
measure,  which  is  the  subject  of  deliberative  dis- 
cussion, generally  depends  upon  a  previously  ex- 
isting state  of  things ;  often  upon  a  particular  dis- 
closure of  facts,  which  the  purpose  of  the  delibera- 
tive orator  requires  him  to  make  before  his  audi- 
tory. No  question  upon  the  imposition  of  a  tax, 
the  collection  of  a  revenue,  the  sale  of  lands,  or 
the  subscription  to  a  loan,  a  declaration  of  war, 
or  the  ratification  of  a  treaty,  can  arise,  in  a  public 
assembly,  in  a  state  of  abstraction.    These  great 


LECT.  XVIII.]  NARRATION.  413 

topics  of  debate  must  always  be  connected 
with  a  series  of  great  public  events;  and  the 
expediency,  upon  which  the  issue  of  the  delibera- 
tion will  turn,  must  lean  upon  the  basis  of  the  pub- 
lic affairs  at  the  time  of  deliberation.  The  policy 
of  the  future  is  interwoven  with  the  history  of  the 
past ;  and  every  deliberative  orator,  whose  views  of 
a  proposed  measure  are  directed  by  facts  within 
his  own  knowledge,  must  lay  Ijefore  his  hearers,  in 
justification  of  his  opinions,  as  well  the  facts  them- 
selves, as  their  connexion  with  the  benefits  or  dis- 
advantages of  the  measure,  which  he  recommends 
or  dissuades. 

In  demonstrative  oratory,  so  far  as  tliis  is  made 
the  vehicle  of  panegyric  or  of  censure,  narration  is 
equally  necessary.  A  character  can  be  justly 
commended  or  reprobated  only  on  account  of  the 
deeds,  by  which  it  has  been  distinguished ;  and 
these  deeds  can  be  emblazoned  only  b}-  means  of 
a  narrative. 

But  in  all  such  cases,  when  the  narrative  does 
not  contain  the  whole  proposition  within  itself, 
there  is  no  necessity,  nor  even  would  there  be  any 
propriety  in  confining  this  part  of  the  discourse 
to  a  separate  location,  immediately  subsequent  to 
the  introduction.     It  should  be  introduced  occa- 


414  NARRATION.         [lECT.  XVIII. 

sionally  in  any  part  of  the  speech,  intermingled 
with  discussion,  diversified  by  argument,  assum- 
ed, laid  aside,  and  again  renewed,  as  may  serve 
the  purpose  of  the  speaker. 

The  Manilian  law  was  an  act  of  the  Roman 
people,  proposed  by  the  tribune,  Manilius,  giving 
the  command  of  tlic  army  by  an  extraordinary 
commission,  and  with  unusual  powers,  to  Pompey, 
for  the  purpose  of  finishing  the  war  against  Mith- 
ridates.  The  celebrated  oration  of  Cicero  upon 
that  subject  was  delivered  with  a  view  to  prevail 
upon  the  people  to  bestow  this  unprecedented  fa- 
vor, and  to  place  this  uncommon  trust  in  Pompey. 
The  expediency  of  the  act  was  to  be  proved  by 
arg-uments,  drawn  fi-om  the  nature  of  the  war  and 
the  character  of  the  proposed  commander.  This 
oration  therefore  partook  both  of  the  deliberative 
and  of  the  demonstrative  class  ;  and  a  distinct  nar- 
rative was  necessary  to  both.  The  nature  of  the 
war  was  to  be  manifested  by  a  narrative  of  the 
most  important  events,  which  had  marked  its 
progress.  The  character  of  Pompey  was  to  be 
recommended  by  a  narrative  of  his  prior  achieve- 
ments. It  was  the  first  occasion,  upon  which  Cic- 
ero ever  addressed  the  assembly  of  the  people,  and 
he  labored  his  discourse  with  more  than  ordinary 


LECT.  XVIII.]  NARRATION.  415 

solicitude ;  stimulated  at  once  by  the  treble  mo- 
tive of  serving  his  friend,  of  maintaining  his  own 
influence  with  the  people,  and  of  obtaining  a  gen- 
eral adequate  to  the  exigences  of  the  war.  The 
narration  is  double  ;  one  part  detailing  tlie  disasters 
of  the  war,  and  the  other  extolling  the  exploits  of 
Pompey.  They  both  contril^ute  essentially  to  the 
object  of  the  discourse,  but  neither  of  them  con- 
tains it  entirely.  They  ai'e  indeed  placed  in  strict 
conformity  to  the  rules,  in  immediate  connexion 
together,  and  follow  directly  after  the  introduction. 
But,  as  they  were  narrations  merely  destined  to  il- 
lustrate particular  arguments,  they  might  have 
been  produced  in  any  other  part  of  the  discourse. 
This  distinction  it  is  proper  to  make  even  upon 
jury  trials,  where  the  najTation,  entitled  immedi- 
ately to  succeed  tlie  introduction,  can  only  be  that, 
which  embraces  the  facts  in  issue,  and  upon  which 
tlie  verdict  is  to  be  pronounced. 

There  are  likewise  cases,  when  the  naiTation 
even  of  judicial  causes  should  be  postponed  for 
the  consideration  of  other  preliminaries  besides  the 
introduction.  This  is  especially  the  case,  when 
the  orator  has  to  combat  strong  prejudices  against 
himself  or  his  cause.  The  removal  of  such  ob- 
stacles naturally  belongs  to  the  head  of  confutation ; 


416  NARRATION.  [lECT.  XVIII. 

but  it  will  sometimes  be  advisable  to  transfer 
them  to  an  earlier  stage  of  his  discourse,  and  con- 
nect them  immediately  with  his  exordium.  For 
the  effect  of  unfavorable  prejudice  is  to  make  the 
auditor  unwilling  to  hear ;  and  very  little  indeed 
can  be  expected  either  of  attention,  benevolence, 
or  docility,  from  that,  against  which  the  person 
addressed  has  barred  his  ears. 

But  wheresoever  the  narration  is  introduced, 
whether  in  regular  form  immediately  after  the  ex- 
ordium, or  at  any  subsequent  stage  of  the  dis- 
course ;  whether  in  one  connected  train,  or  in  fre- 
quent and  occasional  recurrences,  there  are  cer- 
tain peculiar  characters,  by  which  it  should  be 
distinguished.  The  most  essential  of  these  are 
brevity,  perspicuity,  probability.  The  brevity  of 
a  narration  must  however  be  a  relative,  rather  than 
a  positi^'e  quality  ;  and  always  bear  reference  to 
the  nature  of  the  speaker's  subject.  That  naiTa- 
tive  is  always  sufficiently  short,  which  is  not  over- 
charged v/ith  any  superfluous  circumstances. 
Hence  Aristotle,  whose  precision  of  intellect  never 
suffered  him  to  admit  the  use  of  general,  indefinite 
terms,  expressly  denies  that  brevity  can  be  includ- 
ed among  the  essentials  of  a  narration.  Its  length, 
he  contends,  must  be  measured  by  the  complica- 


LECT.  XVIII.]  NARRATION.  417 

tion  or  the  simplicity  of  the  transactions  to  be  told; 
and  he  says  that  the  rhetoricians,  who  require  that 
every  narration  should  be  short,  may  be  answered 
like  the  baker,  who  asked  his  customer  whether 
he  should  make  his  bread  hard  or  soft.  "  Pray  sir, 
cannot  you  make  my  bread  good  ?" 

This  reasoning  is  obviously  just.  But  some 
rule  is  as  obviously  necessary  for  curtailing  super- 
fluities of  narration  ;  nor  is  it  impossible  in  pre- 
scribing brevity  to  indicate  some  criterion,  by 
which  the  looseness  of  this  general  precept  may  be 
circumscribed.  What  is  the  use  of  the  narration  ? 
It  is  to  lay  the  foundation  for  the  speaker's  argu- 
ment ;  and  the  end,  for  W'hich  it  is  introduced,  is 
the  best  measure  for  marking  its  limits.  Narra- 
tion, adduced  as  the  basis  of  reasoning,  comprises 
three  periods  of  time,  and  three  distinct  links, 
chained  in  succession  together;  the  important 
facts,  the  causes  in  which  thty  originated,  and  the 
consequences  which  flowed  from  tliem.  The 
facts  are  composed  of  various  incidents,  the  se- 
lection of  which  should  be  diversified  according 
to  the  purpose,  for  which  they  are  alledged.  The 
same  events  are  susceptible  of  very  various  narra- 
tives, all  strictly  conformable  to  the  truth  ;  and  the 

same  assemblage  of  circumstances,  which  would 
53 


418  NARRATION.  [lECT.   XVIII. 

constitute  a  concise  narrative  for  the  purpose  of  il- 
lustrating an  important  argument,  would  be  te- 
diously long  if  the  position,  which  gives  them 
pith  and  moment,  were  removed. 

Take  for  example  the  narration  of  Milo's  de- 
parture from  Rome,  the  day  of  the  encounter, 
which  terminated  in  the  death  of  Clodius.  "  Mi- 
lo,"  says  the  orator,  '*  had  attended  that  day  in  the 
senate,  and  after  their  adjournment  went  home, 
changed  his  shoes  and  garments,  waited  a  little,  as 
usual,  for  his  wife  to  get  ready,  and  finally  left  his 
house  at  a  time,  when  Clodius,  had  he  meant  to 
return  that  day  to  Rome,  must  have  been  arrived. 
Clodius  meets  him  on  horseback,  without  carriage, 
without  baggage,  without  his  usual  train  of  effem- 
inate Greeks,  nay  without  his  wife,  which  was 
almost  unexampled  ;  while  this  supposed  assassin, 
who  is  represented  as  having  taken  that  road  for 
the  express  purpose  of  murder,  was  travelling  in 
his  carriage,  muffled  up  in  his  cloak,  encumbered 
with  a  load  of  baggage,  and  surrounded  by  a  deli- 
cate and  timorous  train  of  women  and  children," 

Suppose  that  the  defence  of  Milo  upon  that 
trial  had  been  like  that  in  the  case  of  Roscius  of 
Ameria.  Suppose  the  murder  liad  been  commit- 
ted at  Rome,  and  the  object  of  Cicero  had  been  to 


LECT.  XVIII.]  NARRATION.  419 

show,   that  it  was  not   and  could  not  be  com- 
mitted by  Milo,  because  he  was,  at  the  time  of 
its  commission,   in   the  country.     The  material 
fact  of   his   departure   from    Rome   would  have 
been  precisely  the  same  ;    but  the  narration  must 
have  been  allogeiher  difterent.      The  selection  of 
incidents  would  have  been  varied,   or   omitted. 
1  he  purpose  bemg  merely  to  show  that  he  was 
not  at  Rome,  it  would  have  been  useless  and  im- 
pertinent to  tell  of  his  attendance  in  the  senate  ;  of 
his  change  of  clothing ;  of  his  wife's  adjustment  of 
Cr'.p  and  ribbons ;    of  his  cloak,  his  maid-servants, 
and  his  boys.      In  such  a  state  of  the  cause  those 
very  incidents,  which  in  the  oration,  as  it  now  ap- 
pears,  are   selected  with  such  consummate  ad- 
dress, would  have  been   tedious  and  ridiculous. 
In  that  case  the  absence  from  the  city  would  alone 
have  been  material,  and  the  narration  might  have 
been  comprised  in  half  a  line.     But  here  the  ob- 
ject was  to  exhibit  Milo  in  a  certain  state  of  mind, 
for  the  purpose  of  convincing  the  judges,  that  his 
meeting  with  Clodius  was  on  his  part  unpremedi- 
tated.    What  an  admirable  grouping  of  incidents 
to  produce  this  efiect !      In  Shakspeare's  tragedy 
of  Julius  Caesar,  the  poet  makes  the  principal  con- 
spirator of  Caesar's  death  describe  the  state  of 


420  NARRATION.  [lECT.  XVIII. 

mind,  which  in  the  human  constitution  precedes 
the  commission  of  such  unnatural  deeds. 

"  Between  the  acting  of  a  dreadful  thing 
And  the  first  motioi\,  all  the  interim  is 
Like  a  phantasma,  or  a  hideous  dream  ; 
The  genius  and  the  mortal  instruments 
Are  then  in  council ;  and  the  state  of  man, 
Like  to  a  little  kingdom,  suffers  then 
The  nature  of  an  insurrection." 

Cicero  does  not  precisely  say  this ;  but  the  whole 
tenor  of  his  narration  is  founded  upon  tlie  presump- 
tion, that  the  judges  would  feel  what  extreme  agi- 
tation of  deportment,  and  what  a  fearful  conflict  of 
the  passions  accompanies  in  the  human  breast  the 
premeditation  of  murder.  Milo  was  a  senator. 
He  had  on  the  same  day,  when  Clodius  was  killed, 
attended  the  meeting  of  the  senate,  and  had  not 
left  that  assembly  until  after  their  adjournment. 
To  a  superficial  observer  of  human  nature  it  were 
perhaps  impossible  to  select  an  incident  less  enti- 
tled to  notice  in  a  narrative  than  this.  Why,  no 
doubt  Milo,  like  the  other  senators,  habitually  at- 
tended the  meetings  of  the  senate,  and  waited  for 
the  adjournment  to  go  home.  True;  but  this 
regular  recurrence  to  his  ordinary  daily  occupation 
has  a  tendency  to  show,  that  he  was  not  in  the  con- 


lECT.  XVIII.]  NARRATION.  421 

vulsive  agitations  of  a  laboring  crime.  The  set- 
tled intent  of  murder  would  have  produced  a  de- 
viation from  the  common  round  of  business.  He 
would  not  have  attended  at  the  senate  at  all ;  or  he 
would  have  left  the  assembly  before  its  adjourn- 
ment, had  the  bloody  purpose  been  teeming  in  his 
soul.  A  purpose  of  murder  would  have  absorbed 
all  his  faculties.  He  could  not  have  enjoyed  the 
composure  of  spirit,  nor  the  coolness  of  recollection 
to  go  home  and  change  his  clothes,  and  wait  for 
the  lingering  arrangements  of  a  lady's  dress. 
Still  less  would  he  have  thought  of  taking  her  with 
her  chambermaids  and  boys  in  his  retinue.  This 
is  the  argument,  which  Cicero  intends  to  raise 
from  the  facts,  thus  recapitulated ;  and  the  bare 
notice  of  circumstances,  thus  trifling  in  them- 
selves, prepares  the  minds  of  the  judges  for  the 
reception  of  his  defence.  By  turning  to  the  sub- 
sequent argumentative  part  of  the  same  oration, 
you  will  see  witli  what  earnestness  and  force  he 
dwells  upon  these  incidents  seemingly  so  slight,  as 
affording  the  clearest  demonstration  of  Milo's  in- 
nocence. 

To  comply  then  with  the  requisition,  that  the 
narration  should  be  short,  it  will  be  sufficient  to 
remember  that  you  must  begin  precisely  with  that 


422  NARRATION.  [lECT.  XVHI. 

incident,  which  is  material  to  the  argument  you 
intend  to  urge  ;  and,  as  you  proceed,  to  suppress 
everv  circumstance,  which  has  no  relation  to  it. 
For  the  purjxjse  of  brevity  you  must  exclude 
likewise  tvery  part  of  a  transaction,  necessarily 
implied  in  the  statement  of  the  fact  itself.  Sup- 
pose in  the  narrative  of  a  journey  you  should  say, 
Ave  came  to  the  river,  inquired  the  rate  of  ferriage, 
entered  the  boat,  were  rowed  across,  and  landed 
on  the  opposite  shore  ;  every  part  of  this  relation, 
considered  separately,  is  as  short  as  it  could  be 
made  ;  but  "  we  crossed  the  river"  would  tell  the 
same  fact  in  four  words. 

The  rule  of  brevity  is  not  necessaiy  f'^r  the 
purpose  of  proscribing  repetitions  and  tautolog5% 
For  however  allowable  it  might  be  to  protract  the 
narration,  these  would  still  be  inudtnissi  >le.     Bat, 
in  the  endeavour  to  avoid  these  faults,  we  must  be 
no  less  careful  to  avoid  those  of  confusion  ai id  ob- 
scurity.    This  was  the  caution  of  Horace  to  the 
poets,  "  brevis  esse  laboro,  obscurus  tio."     And 
the  danger  is  still  more  incident  to  an  orator,  over 
anxious  of  brevity  in  his  narration.     The  danger 
of  •  redundancy  too  is  not  of  such  vital  importance, 
as  that  of  obscurity.     By  saying  too  much  the 
speaker  may  become  tedious.     But  in  saying  too 


LECT.  XVIII.]  NARRATION.  423 

little  he  puts  in  jeopardy  the  very  justice  of  his 
Cause.  So  that  the  precept  of  brevity  must  be 
relative,  not  only  with  regard  to  the  character  of 
the  cause,  but  also  with  regiu-d  to  that  of  the  au- 
dience. Nothing,  already  known  to  all  his  hear- 
ers, can  be  essential  to  the  narration  of  a  speaker. 
To  a  very  select  and  intelligent  bod}  a  con- 
cise summary  will  fully  answer  the  end  of  a  nar- 
rative, when  to  a  numerous,  popular  assembly,  or 
to  an  ordinary  jury  a  circumstantial  detail  might 
be  indispensable  to  make  them  understand  your 
subject.  If  the  narrative  comprehends  events  so 
multifarious  and  complicated,  that  it  must  be  pos- 
itively long,  it  will  be  most  advisable  to  divide  it 
into  several  distinct  periods,  and  mark  the  divis- 
ions either  by  formal  enumeration,  or  as  the  rela- 
tion proceeds,  so  that  the  mind  of  your  hearer 
may  dwell  upon  them,  as  resting  stages  for  his 
attention.  Nor  let  the  love  of  brevity  preclude 
the  seasoning  of  occasional  ornament.  As  yoii 
lead  your  hearer  along,  scatter  fragrance  in  his 
path.  Spread  the  smiling  landscape  around. 
With  the  attractive  charm  of  fancy  make  all  na- 
ture beauty  to  his  eye  and  music  to  his  ear.  The 
road  will  then  never  be  long. 


424  NARRATION.  [lECT.  XVIII. 

The  second  of  the  qualities  essential  to  a  good 
narration  is  clearness  or  perspicuity ;  to  obtain 
which  the  speaker  must  use  plain,  intelligible  lan- 
guage, never  descending  to  vulgaiity;  never  soar- 
ing into  affectation.  He  must  mark  with  obvious 
distinctions  the  things,  persons,  times,  places,  and 
motives,  of  which  he  discourses  ;  and  observe  a 
due  conformity  of  voice,  action,  and  delivery,  to 
the  substance  of  his  speech.  He  must  fasten  the 
attention  of  his  hearers  altogether  upon  the  facts, 
which  he  is  relating ;  and,  instead  of  attracting  it, 
use  his  most  strenuous  endeavours  to  withdraw  it 
from  the  manner,  in  which  he  tells  the  story.  Let 
him  relate  so  that  every  hearer  may  seem  to  have 
been  present  at  the  scene,  and  may  fancy  that  he 
could  himself  have  told  it  exactly  so.  If  the  ora- 
tor labors  here  for  admiration,  he  must  earn  it  at 
the  expense  of  his  credit.  He  will  be  applauded, 
and  not  understood,  or  not  believed. 

The  same  principle  dictates  the  rule  of  proba- 
bility. The  facts  are  to  constitute  the  foundation 
for  the  reasoning ;  of  course  the  great  object  of 
the  narration  is  to  obtain  belief.  In  the  other 
parts  of  the  discourse  the  speaker  may  plead 
some  excuse  for  aiming  to  attract  some  of  the 
hearer's  attention  to  himself.       The   success  of 


lECT.  XVIII.]  NARRATION.  425 

the  orator  might  not  be  lost,  though  his  audience 
should  sometimes  think  that  he  reasons  forcibly, 
or  deeply  feels  his  subject.  But  once  give  your 
hearer  time,  while  your  story  is  telling,  to  think, 
this  man  tells  his  story  well,  and  ten  to  one  but 
vour  cause  is  lost.  He  had  much  better  think 
you  tell  it  ill.  Art  and  labor  may  naturally  be  ex- 
pected elsewhere  ;  but  in  the  narration  they  must 
not  even  be  suspected.  You  want  the  acquies- 
cence of  your  hearer's  mind  not  to  the  goodness, 
but  to  the  truth  of  what  you  say.  You  may  per- 
haps inquire,  why  then  the  precept  is  not  that  the 
narrative  should  be  ti'ue  ?  It  is  undoubtedly  of 
great  importance  to  an  orator  that  his  statement  of 
facts  should  be  true  ;  but  this  is  not  included 
among  the  precepts  of  his  art,  for  t\\-o  reasons ; 
first  because  the  truth  of  his  statement  does  not 
always  depend  upon  himself.  His  narrative  must 
generally  be  founded  upon  the  testimony  of  oth- 
ers, and  he  cannot  be  responsible  for  its  truth. 
And  secondly  because  the  truth  is  not  by  itself 
sufficient  to  obtain  the  hearer's  belief.  Tliere  is 
a  natural  connexion  between  truth  and  probabili- 
ty ;  and  so  strong  is  this  connexion,  that  an  audi- 
ence is  seldom  willing  to  admit  any  other  test  of 

that  truth,  which  thev  cannot  certainly  know,  but 
54 


426  NARRATION.  [lECT.  XVIII. 

that  probability,  of  which  all  can  judge.  Hence 
it  follows,  that  an  improbable  truth  is  less  adapted 
to  obtain  belief,  than  a  probable  falsehood.  And 
hence  the  rhetorical  instruction  to  an  orator  is  not 
"  make  your  narration  true  ;"  but  make  your  nar- 
ration probable. 

To  observe  the  rule  of  probability,  you  must 
in  the  first  place,  by  a  severe  and  impartial  scrutiny 
and  comparison  of  incidents,  exert  your  faculties 
to  discover  the  truth ;  and  lay  it  down  as  a  max- 
im of  rhetoric  no  less  than  of  morality,  never  to 
give  for  truth  what  you  know  to  be  false.  You 
must  then  trace  and  exhibit  a  natural  connexion 
between  your  facts,  their  causes,  and  the  motives, 
in  which  they  originated.  You  should  give  inti- 
mations of  character,  which  may  account  for 
the  acts  of  persons,  which  form  a  part  of  your 
relation.  You  should  observe  all  the  conformi- 
ties  of  time,  place,  and  circumstance;  and  as 
there  is  in  all  human  transactions  a  sort  of  ho- 
mogeneous congruity  of  facts,  you  must  be  at- 
tentive to  give  your  narrative  that  natural  air  of 
truth,  which  forms  the  first  excellence  of  dramatic 
representation.  If  the  first  part  of  the  story  be 
properl);^  told,  it  will  prepare  the  hearer  for  the 
sequel,  and  even  for  the  substance  of  the  argu- 


LECT.  XVIII.]  NARRATION.  427 

ment.  As  the  narrative  is  the  foundation,  upon 
which  the  proof  or  confirmation  is  to  be  built, 
whatsoever  is  tliere  to  be  cnlai'ged  upon,  tlie  char- 
acters, time,  place,  motives,  and  occasions,  are  to 
be  first  sketched  in  the  narration. 

In  addition  to  these  rules  some  rhetorical  teach- 
ers consider  the  narration  as  requiring  peculiar 
dignity  of  language,  and  loftiness  of  expression. 
A  more  judicious  rule  will  be  to  diversify  the- 
style  according  to  the  nature  of  die  subject  to  be 
related.  Digressions  should  here  seldom  be  in- 
dulged, and  always  be  short.  Exclamations,  fig- 
ures of  tlie  higli  poetical  character,  personifica- 
tions, formal  arguments,  and  forceful  appeals  to 
the  passions,  have  no  place  here  ;  for  tlicy  would 
extend  the  narrative  to  unnecessary  length,  or  veil 
it  with  obscurity,  or  impair  its  credibility.  But 
of  all  the  parts  of  an  oration  the  narrative  is  that, 
which  calls  for  the  profoundcst  art,  for  that  art, 
which  disguises  itself,  for  that  "  callidissima  sim- 
plicitatis  imitatio,"  wliich  belongs  only  to  the 
most  eloquent  of  men.  It  is  the  part,  which  re- 
quires  graces  of  the  most  delicate  refinement, 
beauties  of  the  most  exquisite  polish.  But  the 
speaker  must  cling  to  the  character  of  his  subject. 
In  causes  of  a  private  character  and  of  minor  impor 


428  NARRATION.  [lECT.  XVIII. 

tance,  he  must  present  only  those  modest,  unas- 
suming  graces,  whicli  attam  distmction  by  flying 
from  notice.  Every  word  should  be  selected  for 
its  meaning,  and  bear  the  sterling  stamp  of  signifi- 
cancy.  Yet  his  simplicity  must  not  be  plain ; 
his  purity  must  not  be  barren.  The  discourse 
should  be  seasoned  with  pleasantry  ;  the  language 
quickened  with  variety. 

The  attention  of  the  auditory  seldom  fixes  up- 
on any  part  of  a  public  speaker's  performance  so 
intensel}',  as  upon  his  narration.  There  is  some- 
thing in  the  nature  of  narrative  interesting  to  all 
mankind ;  and  it  is  owing  to  this  propensity,  that 
the  most  popular  of  all  reading  in  every  stage  of 
society  subsequent  to  the  introduction  of  letters, 
and  at  every  period  of  life,  is  history,  real  or  ficti- 
tious. Hence  the  general  fondness  for  biography. 
Hence  the  still  more  universal  attachment  to  ro- 
mances, novels,  and  ballads.  But,  independent  of 
this  passion  for  hearing  stories  told,  the  auditory 
have  a  further  stimulus  to  attention  in  the  wish  to 
form  their  own  judgment  from  the  facts.  They 
suppose  themselves  as  able  to  reason  and  draw 
conclusions,  as  the  orator  himself;  and  they  give 
themselves  credit  for  as  much  feeling,  as  he  can 
display.     There  is  upon  most  judicial  trials  a  spir- 


IfiCT.  XVIII.]  NARRATION.  429 

it  of  pride  and  of  self  love  in  the  judge  or  jury, 
which  gives  birth  to  a  professed  principle  of  total 
disregard  to  the  argument  or  eloquence  of  the  ad- 
vocate, and  glories  in  making  up  the  decision  ex- 
clusively upon  the  facts.      At  the  narration  alone, 
jealousy,  suspicion,  and  self  complacency  may  be 
lulled  to  sleep  in  exact  proportion,  as  attention  is 
awakened.  The  pleasure  of  the  hearer  imi^ercepti- 
bly  ripens  into  judgment;  and,  in  surrendering  en- 
tire acquiescence  to  the  narrative  of  the  orator,  the 
judge  or  juror  fancies  he  has  pronounced  upon 
the  naked  facts,  without  any  bias  from  the  oratory 
of  the  pleader. 

The  credit  of  a  narrative  must  therefore  always 
depend  much  upon  that  of  the  narrator.  An  es- 
tablished reputation  for  veracity  is  often  equivalent 
to  a  cloud  of  witnesses.  This  reputation  it  be- 
hooves then  every  public  speaker  to  acquire  by  the 
general  tenor  of  his  life,  and  the  uniform  adherence 
to  truth.  This  acquisition  can  be  made  only  by  de- 
grees, and  in  process  of  time.  \\'hen  once  attain- 
ed, it  calls  for  the  same  solicitude  to  be  retained  ; 
and  the  public  speaker  should  never  forget,  that  a 
single  detected  deviation  from  truth  may  forfeit  the 
accumulated  confidence  of  many  spotless  years. 


430  NARRATION.  [lECT.  XVIII, 

One  of  the  most  powerful  arts  of  narration  is 
to  intersperse  the  relation  with  such  sensible  ima- 
ges, as  present  the  scene  to  the  hearer's  eye.  All 
narrative  is  a  species  of  imitation.  It  is  the  repre- 
sentation to  the  mind  by  the  means  of  speech 
of  events,  which  have  before  been  the  olDJects  of 
observation.  The  more  picturesque  then  a  nar- 
ration is  made,  the  closer  is  its  resemblance  to 
the  truth,  and  the  better  adapted  must  it  be  to  ob- 
tain belief.  The  preeminence  of  the  eye  over 
the  ear,  as  a  judge  of  imitation,  is  remarked  by 
Horace,  whose  principles  of  taste,  though  prescrib- 
ed only  for  the  composition  of  poetr}-,  are  univer- 
sally applicable  to  all  the  fine  arts. 

Segnius  irritant  animos  demissa  per  aurem, 
Quam  quae  sunt  oculis  subjecta  fidelibus,  et  quae 
Ipse  sibi  tradit  spectator. 

ART.  POET.  180. 

A  passage,    which  has  been  well  translated    by 
Roscommon. 

But  what  we  hear  moves  less,  than  what  we  see  ; 
Spectators  only  have  their  eyes  to  trust, 
But  auditors  must  trust  their  ears  and  you. 

This  talent  of  picturesque  description  furnish- 
es one  of  the  surest  tests  for  the  genius  of  an  ora- 


LECT.  XVIII. 1  NARRATION.  431  • 

tor.  The  power  of  painting  by  speech  cannot, 
like  the  expression  of  sentiments  or  of  passions, 
be  borrowed  from  others.  It  requires  accuracy 
of  observation,  correctness  of  judgment,  and  facil- 
ity of  communication ;  an  union  of  faculties,  be- 
stowed only  upon  the  darlings  of  nature.  But  as, 
if  attainable  at  all  by  exertions  of  your  own,  it 
must  be  rather  by  the  contemplation  of  examples, 
than  from  the  abstraction  of  precepts,  I  shall  at  a 
future  stage  of  our  inquiries  invite  your  attention 
to  some  of  those  imperishable  models,  which  have 
commanded  the  admiration  of  ages,  and  survived 
the  revolutions  of  empires ;  which  may  teach  you 
what  to  do,  by  showing  you  what  has  been  done. 


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Lectures  -on  Rhetoric 
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